Blindsided
by Kashmir Winchester
Summary: This is the story of (former) Officer Erin Cabrera, who's trying to find her way out of this mess, and this isn't without meeting some obstacles of her own, most of which are in the form of Daryl Dixon. Eventual Daryl/OC. Rated M for strong language, images and eventual mature content. [AU] (NOT GOOD WITH SUMMARIES BUT THE STORY IS GOOD, PROMISE!)
1. Chapter 1 – Day 387: Afternoon

**Chapter One – Day 387**

**Afternoon**

I was tired. Fuck, I was dead-beat. I've been staring at the walker, caught up between barbed wires, trying to reach for me, for five minute. I sat down on a big rock across it—can't call 'it' a 'him', because that thing ain't anything closer to a 'him'—and rubbed the sweat dripping off my forehead with a piece of cloth, tossing it aside. I took a deep breath and stared down at my boots.

These fucking boots. So many memories. They were a present from my boyfriend Benny—well, ex-boyfriend—when I got the job at the King County Sherriff's Department. Being a newbie with such a serious police force meant I needed legit gear, which I couldn't afford because I lived off my ex's pay. He worked at the local mall, so you can imagine how low the pay-check was at the end of the month. But he still fucking got them for me. I remember crying with happiness for the first time when I got them. So clean and big and… goddamn expensive.

I shook my head thinking of Benny. He was to be my first after we got married. When everything went apeshit, we'd been engaged for a weekend. Yep, one solid weekend. He was _so_ patient with me with regards to sex, and I was such a prude. I still am a virgin (this apocalypse has done me no justice in that area), but this zombie apocalypse made me more mature. The swearing is a negative bonus that got thrown in with this experience.

I blinked, and came back to my senses. Walker stuck in barbed wires. I sighed, stood up and bashed his head in with my Glock. I grunted as I pulled the gun from its head, and walked to the other side, gun in one hand, and an Italian knife strapped to the other, hidden under the sleeve of my flannel shirt. I had four Swiss knives, two tied to each leg in case of emergencies. In my backpack, I had several other weapons: thin wires, several other knives, and chains. It was fucking heavy, it hurt my back, but I still walked along.

To be honest, I had no idea where I was going. For the past year, nothing mattered except surviving. I wasn't always alone; the week the outburst occurred, I was in such a bad place. While looking for Benny, I stumbled upon a nest of walkers, and a group of men saved me. My memory is fuzzy as fuck, so I forgot their names (except for Lori and Shane, whom I knew before the outburst). But I'd remember their faces if I ever saw them again. Well, they saved me, took me to their group and I spent a week with them. I overheard one of them—the tough one with the accent. God he was such an asshole—saying how useless I was for the group because—this made me chuckle then, and still does now—I looked like a teenager. Heck I knew I looked young for my age (even though I forgot how old I was back then, but I'm not yet 30. That far I know), but that didn't mean _any_thing. I was a _police officer_! I could hear Shane, a co-worker of mine who was part of the group, defend me. So did Lori, Sherriff Grimes' wife, but Asshole with the Accent insisted, so did the other Asshole with the Accent. They were definitely related, the Assholes… brothers or father-son.

I'd had enough of the bull, so I packed my stuff and snuck out. All week those two had done nothing but taunt me: my size, my accent, my nose… everything. Thank god I knew Shane and Lori because I'd have shot the two of them… except back then I was a scaredy cat. That's why I left. I was scared. But not anymore. I've grown so independent whenever I saw a group of survivors I walked the other way. I couldn't deal with any more groups after that one.

Except this one time, I did. And it ended tits-up. For them, not me. It was a group of men… six or seven of them, if I remember correctly… who took me in. They were squatting in a day care centre for old people, I think. The men were all older than me, ten to fifteen years for sure, so I was a bit wary of how I portrayed myself in front of them. Being cautious didn't help at all and now, I realise, I couldn't fucking blame them. Six or seven men, no women, lots of urges, and then there was me, the only girl, fresh meat. I always sensed they could smell my virgin blood from the other side of the building, where I was to stand guard most days and nights. So after a month or so with them, we decided to move places—you now, extra caution—and we took a shortcut underground, but when they took a left, I went back to where I came from, and ran off. I'd taken half their weapons, as I was on 'weapon-holding duty' because—that's right—I was a girl.

_Crack_.

I snapped out of my train of thoughts, and spun around, gun at the ready.

_Crackle-crack_.

The cracking of fallen leaves and twigs was increasing… and approaching. I tried to control my breathing, which resulted impossible. In situations as such, I usually think the same thing quickly, over and over again. It's ridiculous, but it was the only thing that kept me sane. And the only thing I'll have to remember for the rest of my life.

'My name is Erin Cabrera, and I'm screwed.'

* * *

**This is my first TWD fanfiction I've ever written, so I'm totally new with this. I'm a big nut for TWD, as am for most zombie apocalyptic series/movies/books.**

**I hope you guys will enjoy this story!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Day 1: Day

**Chapter 2 – Day 1**

**Day**

As I started waking up, I could hear the faint music in the background… Was that the soundtrack of _Rocky_?! I slowly sat up in my bed and saw Benny walking in, holding a shoe box in his hands. It had a red bow on it. I smiled softly.

"Morning… Officer Cabrera." He greeted me, grinning as he made his way over to my side of the bed. He placed the box next to me and leaned in to kiss me. I smiled against his lips, and then pulled away, frowning.

"Ben, I thought I told you not to buy me anything…" I told him. He winked, a sparkle in his eye, and placed the box on my lap.

"I wanted to, babe." He insisted. I sighed. We were so low on money we hadn't been on a night out since we moved in together. His work didn't pay much, and I hadn't received any money from my parents since I got kicked out. They wanted me to become a doctor. And I was almost qualified to be a nurse, but I dropped out to pursue a career in the police department. "Come on, open it." He nudged the box slightly closer to me, and I chuckled.

I lifted the lid and gasped. In the box, underneath the tissue paper, lay a pair of military boots. I touched them and gasped once again. They were real leather!

"So? You like 'em? Cos I can always take them back." He rambled when I didn't react further. I looked up at him, my eyes blurring with tears, and laughed shakily.

"No! Benny, I love these! But…" I took his hand and squeezed it. "You shouldn't have. You how tight we are right now so… I wasn't expecting anything from you."

"I wanted to, Erin. Really." He squeezed my hand in response. "I love you."

I smiled softly and gave him a small peck on the lips. "I love you too."

* * *

'This is it.' I thought as I looked at my reflection in the vanity mirror. I turned round to check the back, and then stood upfront one last time. The police uniform was a little snug on me, but wasn't unflattering. I groaned when I noticed a small strand of hair wasn't tied to my sleek ponytail. I traced my fingers over my name badge. It made things more official and real.

"Babe, hurry up or we're gonna be late!" I heard Benny yell from downstairs. I wanted to keep my hair up so badly as it made me look more serious, but I had no time to run the hair routine all over, so I simply let my hair down and pulled it back in a messy bun before running downstairs. I grabbed my bag from the coat hanger and Benny opened the front door for us.

Benny literally sped up to the police station, even though I constantly reassured him that I wasn't going to be late for my first day. He ignored me, telling me that if I wasn't the one that was going to be late, then it was him, and he couldn't risk getting fired with all the money problems we had. On top of all that, he was trying to get a second job at a bar or a restaurant to string in some extra cash. Nothing. No one called him in for an interview.

He parked right in front of the main entrance. "Have a great first day. Call me when you're done, okay? And be careful." he told me. I nodded, knowing why he told me to be careful (apart from the obvious). Several weeks ago, one of the deputies, Officer rick Grimes, was shot by a band of escaped convicts. He was currently fighting for his life.

I leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, and smiled softly. "I will, baby."

"I love you!" he called out as I got out of the car. I slammed the door shut and gave him a small wave before he drove off. I took a deep breath as I looked at the building, and grinned.

"Well, colour me surprised." A gruff voice from across the street exclaimed. I turned round and chuckled. It was my partner from the police academy, Ryan. He crossed the street and gave me a bear hug. You would never in a million years guess Ryan had a fear of heights (such as myself) and anything that flies, considering he was well over six feet tall… probably twice or more my own size. "Ready for your first day… Officer?"

"As ready as I'll ever be…" I let out a tiny giggle before adding, "…Officer." at the end of my sentence. We walked inside the building, met by immediate havoc. The secretaries were all on the phone, lots of typing noises heard in the background, phones ringing… It looked _just_ like in the movies!... except it wasn't such a happy scene.

The secretaries were all assuring the people on the other end to stay put, and that everything will be fine. The phones were ringing off the hook. I noticed one man was on his personal phone, speaking softly to someone, probably a relative or a close friend by the looks of it, asking what was happening.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Ryan asked around, as if he could read my thoughts.

"We got no fucking idea, man." One short officer, whose tag read 'Vasquez', replied. "One minute it's all normal and the next, the whole town's gone apeshit."

Right then, another officer approached us. He had short, black, slightly curly hair, and was only a few inches shorter than Ryan. His tag read 'Walsh', and he had the Deputy's badge. I then remembered I was supposed to report to his office first thing. I hope he wasn't mad at us.

"Vasquez, I need you to go with Dobler on patrol." He ordered him. Vasquez nodded and ran off. "You two are new right?"

We nodded. "I'm Officer Ryan Bloom, this is Officer Erin Cabrera." Ryan politely introduced us.

"I'm Deputy Officer Shane Walker." The man replied in an authoritative tone. "Listen, I know it's your first day here, but something's happening and we need to evacuate everyone. _Now_."

My blood ran cold. Was it a bombing? Terrorist attack? My thoughts drifted to Benny. I hoped he was okay.

"Cabrera, I need you to join Bloom and the squad team out back to patrol the city-centre and evacuate anyone inside." We nodded. "Tell them to follow the officers with the flashlights. They'll be directing everyone to a big building outside town for safety."

"Got it." Ryan replied with a nod.

"And shoot anything that's not human." Shane told us before handing us our guns and walking towards other officers. Me and Ryan had already started walking out of the building, but froze as soon as we heard that sentence.

Something bigger than a terrorist attack was occurring.

* * *

Before today, I never realised how populated this area was. It was too difficult to calm everyone down and direct them to the Flashlight Police. People were screaming, crying and running all over the place. It was worse than a riot. And to make matters worse, I was separated from Ryan and the others. I was completely by myself. The other officers were too busy evacuating building by building. After all, I was just the newbie.

After a while, I realised that not many police would be circling the small gated communities right at the end of the highway, so I decided to make sure those people were safe too. I ran as fast as my legs could take, but these boots were starting to hurt my legs. This always happened, so I gritted my teeth through the pain and marched on.

The first gated community was St Vincent. My heart broke at the sight of it: before it was probably the most beautiful sight. People were envious of those who lived there, big brick buildings, green lawns, immaculate white picket fences… not anymore. The fences were broken, windows shattered, most doors were also broken down. The lawns had cars parked haphazardly. I gasped as I looked down at the streets. There was a lot of blood, but no bodies.

What the hell was going on?!

I placed my hand over my gun, before picking it up from its pocket. "H-Hello? Anyone out here?!" No response. "It's okay if you're scared… I'm with the police…" Still nothing. "Anyone?! Hello?!"

It was through all that panic that I remembered that I was also given a walkie-talkie. I fumbled with it and put it close to my mouth, pressing the PTT button.

"Officer Cabrera? Do you copy?" I released the button, and all I got was static. I braced myself and repeated the sentence, pressing the PTT button again. "Officer Cabrera, do you copy?... Anyone?" When I got more static, my eyes welled up. It was a stupid thing to do, especially in uniform, but everything was taking a toll on me: people were panicking, my boyfriend's God-knows-where, police won't respond to my calls, and I wasn't doing anything to help.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the sound of a trash can hitting the ground from two houses down. I looked up and saw a person, clothes dirty, dragging themselves over to my direction. They were limping quite badly. Relief washed over me, but I still kept my gun up. I put the walkie-talkie back in its pocket and held the gun with both hands. The person was approaching, and I realised it was a man. I couldn't tell his age, but he was well over thirty years old for sure.

"Sir?" _Gurgle-gurgle_. My blood ran cold. That didn't sound human at all, but I had to make sure instead of creating fantasies in my head. "Sir? I'm Officer Erin Cabrera… I-I'm with the police." When the man approached, I screamed. He wasn't human at all. He looked like a… zombie. He groaned, stretching his arms out, coming at me. I stopped screaming and ran backwards, shooting at the thing. After three shots, it fell over with a thud.

"This-this isn't real…" I murmured to myself, shaking my head. "This isn't real, this isn't real…"

I looked up from the corpse and saw more like him approaching. They must have heard the gun shots! I panted as I ran to the closest house, crawled through the window and into a kitchen. It was too peaceful inside the house. I kept my gun in my hands for defence.

"Hello? Anyone here?" I yelled, loud enough for people to hear me from upstairs (if any). "No need to be afraid… I'm Officer Cabrera from the King County Sherriff's Department." No reply.

I noticed there was a phone in the living room, so I walked over and picked it up, ready to call someone… anyone! To my disappointment, the line was disconnected. When I put the phone back down, I heard a thud coming from inside the kitchen. I jumped with fright and twirled around. I kept my mouth shut s I quietly made my way towards the source of sound, which was the cupboard under the sink. I gulped, my hands trembling. I had to be careful how much I trembled… didn't want to risk shooting a human by accident.

When I reached the island across the sink, a zombie with no legs burst out. I gasped, unable to find my voice to scream at the top of my lungs (at the same time I wanted to keep quiet as not to attract attention). I tripped backwards over the carpet, and the gun flew out of my hand and slid to the other side of the room, out of my reach, and scrambled back, until I hit my head hard against the coffee table. I winced, and felt dizzy. The zombie was slowly moving towards me. I ran my fingers through the affected area, and felt something sticky and moist. I closed my eyes, letting the tears finally flow. Blood. Great. I felt myself drifting into unconsciousness. As much as I wanted to keep my eyes open, and find the energy to reach for my gun, I couldn't.

It's weird to say, but I saw my life flash before my eyes, be it out of fear of closing my eyes and never opening them, or because I was scared out of my skin. All these memories with my parents, when they cut me off, meeting Benny, the proposal, moving in…

_CRASH!_

I still didn't have enough energy to look up, but I made out a figure of a man with an axe in his hand. He struck the zombie with the axe numerous times. I recognised the man as Officer Shane Walsh. I wanted to call out his name, let him know who I was, but I had absolutely no energy. I squinted and turned my head slightly, to be met by a pair of blue eyes. I didn't know the man at all.

Suddenly, both my vision and hearing started fading.

"Keep your eyes open! Goddamn, keep your eyes open!" the man shouted. He had a thick southern accent. "Goddamn it… Shane, we're loosin' 'er, man!"

Next thing I knew, I was being carried away. I didn't fight the man. He knew Deputy Walsh, and that was good enough for me then. As long as I got out of there.

As I slipped deeper into unconsciousness, my last thought was, 'My name is Erin Cabrera, and I'm screwed.'

* * *

**The story is slowly building up! To whoever is reading this (got no reviews, so who knows?), the story will be shifting from past to present to get an idea of how Erin developed as a character.**

**I'm trying to make the chapters longer without it being a filler, so give it time! Hopefully it'll get better in time!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Day 1: Night

**Chapter 3 – Day 1**

**Night**

I obviously had no idea what it felt like to be dead. Do dead people still think? Talk within themselves? I think I read something in a book a few years ago, that when a person dies, and they see life flashing before their eyes, they step out of their body, like they're detaching themselves. I tried imagining that with my mind, but I found myself stuck in the same place. It was dark, that far I knew, and that's when I ordered myself: open your eyes. I was scared at first. I didn't know why, but I was. My senses came to be: I heard people talking nearby, but what they were saying was incoherent, I was on something soft, yet I could feel the ground beneath me. It felt like fabric.

My eyes fluttered open, and realised I was in a tent. Looking down at me was a girl, probably in her pre-teens. She had blonde hair that was cut to her jawline. I groaned as I adjusted to the brightness of the flashlight in my face. The girl gasped and crawled out of the tent with her flashlight, leaving me without a source of light, except the bonfire burning outside.

I groaned as I struggled to sit up. My head hurt. I ran my hand over my cut, only to find my head wrapped in bandage.

"Mommy! She's awake!" I heard the girl say. A woman with short, greyish hair popped her head inside the tent, and then back out. A moment later, Deputy Shane Walsh appeared.

"Erin, glad to see you're okay." He said, smiling weakly.

"How—" My voice sounded strained, so I cleared my throat. "How long was I out?"

"Several hours." He replied, and sat down next to me. "I, uh, have to ask… What were you doing in St Vincent?"

I looked down at my fingers as I fidgeted. "I-I know those weren't my orders, Sir. But I got separated from my group and since-since the search was mainly focused on the town centre, I thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea to check the outskirts…" I looked back up at him. He looked tired, stressed and I couldn't tell whether he was angry at me for not listening to his orders or relieved that I was finally awake or whatever. I blushed and looked down once more. "… Sir."

"That's a very brave thing to do, Erin. Especially on your first day and under these… circumstance." He smiled genuinely and added, "And please, call me Shane." I nodded. "Do you know what attacked you?"

I gulped. "Was it a… a zombie?"

Shane looked down for a brief second before looking back up at me and nodding. "We don't know what caused it yet. We came up with a name for them though: walkers." After a brief moment of silence, he asked me, "Would you like to meet the others?"

I smiled and he helped me out of the tent. There were around seven people huddled around a bonfire. It was only a short walk distance, but me and Shane walked very slowly.

"The girl that was with you is Sophia. Her mother's Carol." He explained. He then pointed to two blond women, one older than the other. "Those are Andrea and Amy." He then focused on a Hispanic woman, a boy and a girl, who looked alike, so I immediately assumed they were related. "The woman's Miranda and those are her children, Eliza and Louis." The kids were sitting closer to Sophia and another boy around their age.

"What about the other boy?" I asked him, and I saw his posture stiffen.

"He's, uh, Carl… Carl Grimes." He replied. He nudged his head towards a nearby tent. "His mother, Lori, is inside the tent. She hasn't been out much so… yeah."

"Grimes… as in Rick Grimes?" I asked him, and he nodded. We walked further and I noticed an elderly man sitting on top of a parked RV. "Who's he?" I said, pointing at him.

"Oh, that's Dale. He's our watch. Pretty good for his age." Shane told me, and chuckled. "The other men are in town. They'll be here by early morning."

"Other men?" My mind first drifted to Benny and Ryan. Did Shane find them? Were they safe? And then I remembered the blue-eyed man with the accent who saved my life.

"Morales, Glen, Ed, T-Dog, Merle and Daryl." My shoulders dropped. And he seemed to notice, as he asked in concern, "Are you okay?"

I shook my head with defeat. "I, um… I was hoping my friend and fiancé were here, is all…"

"Your friend, the new officer?" I nodded. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him since he left the office, Erin." Silence. We approached the group, and they all looked up when they heard our footsteps approaching. "Guys, this is Erin Cabrera."

Everyone murmured their hellos and smiled politely.

"Eh? Didn't catch that, Walsh." Dale yelled from the top of the RV. I giggled. He seemed like the joker of the group.

"Erin, Dale." Shane replied, and turned to me. "We saved some food for you. Thought you'd be hungry."

I nodded and chuckled. "I kinda am, yeah." The older blonde, Andrea, smiled and scooted aside so I could sit. "Thanks." I told her as I sat down, and Shane sat next to me, grabbing a plate with some bread. "Um… I was meant to ask you… That man that saved me this morning… is he one of the other men?"

He smiled. "Yeah, Daryl." Daryl. The mysterious blue-eyed man had a name. While I was unconscious, all I saw before me were his blue eyes as he urged me to keep them open. I wanted to let him know that I wanted to keep them open so badly, but the blood loss made me drowsy. And I also wanted to thank him for saving my life. "He was pretty worried about you, Erin." I glanced at him with surprise. Was he really? "You wouldn't keep your eyes open."

"My head hurt a lot." I told him meekly, lightly rubbing it. I winced. "Still does too."

"I'll take a look at it tomorrow, honey." Carol told me with a shy smile. "You had a nasty bump on it. You didn't lose too much blood."

"Thanks, Carol." I told her.

"So what were you doing before… this?" Amy asked her.

"I'm a police officer. It was, uh, my first day today actually." I replied, smiling weakly. "I move here two weeks ago with my boyf—" I stopped immediately. I was still not used to calling him my fiancé. I chuckled and corrected myself. "Fiancé."

"Ah!" Miranda exclaimed. "So it's still new huh?"

I smiled bashfully and took a twig in my hand, drawing circles with it. "Yeah… since last Friday. It was our one-year anniversary."

I could sense their pity when silence clouded the group. I looked at every woman, and they avoided making eye contact with me. Was it because I was so young? Or Benny not being here?

Andrea handed me a plate with some meat on it and I frowned. "I'm… I'm a vegetarian."

She rolled her eyes and took the mean and placed it on her plate, and gave me her bread with butter and tomatoes. I gave her an apologetic smile, which she returned back, and I ate the bread slowly. I wasn't really hungry, but I figured since there weren't many survivors here, I had to make the most of it. Soon enough, I thought, the group will be half this size, food will be scarce.

"I'm thinking…" I spoke up as I sliced the bread in half before taking a bite out of it. "…that all of this has something to do with the military… maybe someone got exposed to some top-secret virus and it spread." I stared at everyone, who gave me puzzled looks. "I, um, saw it in a movie."

"That could be it." Dale commented, making his way towards our group. He sat down between Shane and the kids. "I mean what else could it be?"

Shane shrugged. "I dunno… The Apocalypse?"

"Is the Apocalypse the end of the world?" Sophia asked curiously. Little Louis gasped.

"Are we going to die, mommy?!" he exclaimed, but his mother hushed him, cradling him in her arms.

"No we're not, sweetheart." She softly replied, glaring up at Shane.

I looked down and sighed.

With how things have gone so far, I couldn't help but agree with Shane.

* * *

**I know the ending wasn't that good, but it'll get better, I promise!**

**With regards Georgia Police Academy, I went on their website and I roughly estimated that their whole police program takes about 40 days to complete.**

**Let me know what you think of the story so far, and whether you wish to see something in the story.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Day 2: Day

**Chapter 4**

**Day 2 – Day**

This is ridiculous. I can't believe I spent all night thinking about Daryl. Barely slept a solid hour (also because of Dale's snores), and by the time it was early morning I felt so tired my eyes were burning. But I wanted to meet Daryl formally, and thank him for saving my life.

You know how people always go on about eyes being the windows to a soul? Well, Benny's eyes were (are) blue, and I did some research the night I met him (weird, I know!), and found out that people with blue eyes were pretty, peaceful, kind, smart and are good observers. Benny was (is) all of the above, so I'm assuming Daryl is too. The being kind part is already nailed, as he saved my life, almost sacrificing himself for me.

"Uh, why are you staring?" I blinked and shook my head. Oh no. Was I… daydreaming? Eliza looked puzzled (and slightly creeped out). She then giggled. "You had a weird look."

"W-weird look? Wha-what weird look?" I stammered. She cleared her throat and mimicked my dazed look. I was embarrassed as hell, but it was so on point, I couldn't help but laugh. She grinned proudly. "I was, uh… I didn't sleep well last night so I was sleeping…"

"… with your eyes open?" she was once again confused. She scoffed and went to play with Sophia and her brother. I frowned

"I wasn't dazing." I mumbled to myself. Shane sat down next to me. "Are they here yet?"

He shook her head and patted my shoulder. "They'll be here soon. It's still seven in the morning. I told them to find a squatting place for the night." I nodded and smiled. "After that Daryl's gonna go hunt for food."

"Hunt as in… as in raw animals?" One of the few times I regretted being raised a vegetarian.

"Well, Erin…" Shane sighed. "Food's runnin' out pretty quickly, and other groups of survivors have scanned the whole town for food and other supplies. We've restored to breaking into homes now." He explained. "You're gonna have to learn to eat meat. Start small."

I shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno… The thought of eating meat kinda scares me."

"More than… all this?" Shane asked, raising his eyebrows and motioning his hands at the tents and RV. I laughed nervously and looked down. He had a point. Eating meat was a piece of cake compared to being invaded by zombies and forced out of our homes. Shane looked ahead and patted my back. "Guys are here."

I stood up quickly as a pickup truck came to a halt right in front of the RV. I waited eagerly to see who the men were… okay, I was eager to see Daryl, but then I remembered he had to go hunt for animals, so I sat back down.

"Anything?" Shane asked the first person to come out of the truck: it was a Korean man, my age or younger, with thick black hair.

He grinned and held up two gallons of water. "Did we now?!" he laughed excitedly as he set them down. "Morales has three more in his truck!"

"That's awesome, Glenn!" Shane smiled. "Oh!" He turned round and motioned me to go next to him. I stood up and walked up to them. "Glenn, this is Erin."

"The girl Daryl saved?!" Glenn exclaimed, and he took my hand to shake it. I chuckled nervously. "It's great to finally meet you!" He seemed genuinely glad to meet me. He leaned his head back and yelled, "Hey guys! Daryl's damsel in distress is here!"

I blushed. Is that how I'm known to the group? A 'damsel in distress'? I hit my head against a coffee table and suddenly I'm Rapunzel in her tower?! Psh, men.

"Um, I'm not a damsel in distress, I'm a trained nurse, black belt in karate. Oh, and I'm also a qualified police officer." I told him, but he was looking over his shoulder, at the other pickup truck. A curly-haired middle-aged man hopped out, and I assumed he was Morales.

"Hey, Morales!" Glenn waved him over, and dragged me to him by hand. "This is Erin!"

"The girl Daryl saved?" Morales asked, and smiled politely. "Good to see you on your feet, Erin."

"Um, thanks." I was popular with these men huh… which meant only one thing: _Daryl talked about me_. I thought men usually didn't open up about girls and stuff. Well, at least Benny never did with his stepbrother and dad. Another man got out of the truck.

"Hey, Ed!" Glen exclaimed. The man gave him a wary glare. "This is Erin!"

He dragged saliva in his mouth and spit it. I wrinkled my nose. So gross.

"Where's Carol?" Ed asked Shane, completely ignoring me and Glenn.

"Lake, doing laundry." Shane replied, and Ed disappeared in the forest.

"Well, yer a sight fer sore eyes." I looked over Glenn's shoulder, my gaze meeting that of a tall middle-aged man who was approaching us. He had a similar accent to Daryl's. "Name's Merle, sweetheart."

"Um, Erin." I smiled, about to shake his hand, but Glenn stood in front of me.

"Merle, she's old enough to be your daughter." Glenn told him firmly. Merle rolled his eyes and unloaded Morales' truck.

"Cock blocker." He commented. Another car parked up in front of us, closing the path. A dark-skinned man hopped out, carrying two black duffel back. By the way he was carrying them, I could tell they were pretty heavy.

"Brought some medicine, clothes and toys for the kids." He said, and once he saw me, he grinned. "Hey, aren't you the girl Daryl saved?"

This was either getting too flattering or weird. I couldn't help but feel a mixture of both. "It's Erin."

"Theo, but everyone here calls me T-Dog." He smiled. "It's a miracle you're alive, hon. From what Daryl said, you lost quite a lot of blood."

"'Twas merely a scratch, really…" This Daryl sure knew how to drag a story to his favour huh. "I stumbled back and hit my head to the coffee table. That's all."

"That scar was pretty ugly, Erin." Glenn pointed out. "Anyway, I'm pretty beat, so I'm just gonna head into my tent."

"I understand." I said, and let the man go to their respective tents. I saw Shane busy talking to Dale, so I decided to wander off into the forest.

Benny proposed to me by the lake. It was such an intimate moment. He took me there for a picnic and a swim in the lake. I remember he was about to pop the question when I stopped him and told him I got the job with the Sherriff's Department in King County, and he was so happy for me he almost forgot to ask me. It was when I caught sight of the small velvet box that he asked me. He thought he screwed up the whole proposal speech, but it was perfect. It was the best thing I'd ever heard in my life.

_Crack._

I froze to the spot, and controlled my breathing. Was it another… one of them? I looked around for a possible weapon. I had none on me at that moment: I was still in my uniform as I had nothing else to wear, but I was stripped off my gun. I saw a nearby large-ish rock. I hoped that it wasn't too heavy for me to carry; I was relieved when I picked it up and it was heavy enough to bash that thing's head in. a figure appeared through the branches, so I prepared myself, lifting the rock over my head, ready to throw it. When the figure emerged in the light, my eyes opened wide.

It was him. In the flesh. He had long-ish brown hair, which covered a portion of his sight. He was tall and very built. The sleeves of his shirt were cut off, and he had several dead animals tied to his belt.

"Whoa!" He yelled, holding his crossbow in front of him. I quickly throw the rock back down. "What were ya thinkin' of doing with that huh!"

"I-I'm sorry! I thought you were one of those things!" I insisted. "I-I didn't have anything to defend myself with…"

"Always do." He replied, drawing back his crossbow. "You can never know what's lurkin'."

I nodded, and he passed by me. Before he walked off, I turned round and told him, "Thanks for yesterday, by the way." He stopped walking, but didn't turn to look at me. "I, um, was told you took great care of me on the drive back here so… thanks."

I smiled with the hope that he'd turn his head and acknowledge me, and then thank me for the kind words. But all he did was grunt and walk off, leaving me stand there, defeated. That was it? This moment kept me up all night? I thanked him for saving my life and he _walks away_! And with his male friends, he's a hero for saving 'the helpless girl'.

Well then, I'll just have to prove him wrong about me then.

* * *

**[[Just a quick side note in case you're wondering, the chapter will feature both past (before and during the outburst) and the present (that is where chapter 1 took place). The flashbacks will serve as a sort of summary as to how Erin in chapter 1 developed.]]**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! Chapters taking place in the present time will be back very soon, don't worry! Reviews, follow and favourite if you want to see more of this story!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Day 7: Day

**Chapter 5**

**Day 7 – Night**

Six whole days. That's how long it's been since I was almost eaten by a zombie, since life as we knew it turned upside down… since Daryl last talked to me properly. I didn't know why he kept avoiding me since I met him in the forest that day. He wouldn't look at me, or even acknowledge my presence further than a nod and a grunt here and there. Carol, to whom I'd grown very close (she reminded me of the mother I always wished I had), told me not to worry, because "he was raised not to care".

"But did he say that I did somethin' to him?" I asked her reassuringly. "Maybe one of the kids heard something?"

We were by the lake, doing the laundry. The kids were in their tent, while the men were back in town to search the second quarter for supplies, except for Glenn and Dale. Glenn was on guarding duty with us, while Dale took his usual post in top of the RV.

Carol smiled softly. "I haven't known Daryl very long, but he seems really… reserved." She explained as she rinsed a pair of trousers, handing it to me to fold. "Very loyal to his brother though. Ever since they joined this group, he always followed his brother closely."

I frowned. Merle kept passing comments about my physique, which I found quite sexist at times… and creepy. So I made my best to avoid the man. He was also very racist (like the average redneck, I guess) towards Glenn and T-Dog. No matter how many times we told him race shouldn't matter, he never listened.

"I don't like Merle. And I don't think anyone does, except for Daryl."

"True…" I looked up and saw Glenn standing in front of us. "… but Shane and Daryl have told the rest of us to give him a chance."

"I've been giving him a chance all week, Glenn." I replied, smirking. "Kinda running out of chances here."

Glenn chuckled. "Well, I should get going. They'll be here soon and we'll be discussing some strategies over lunch."

Carol groaned. "Oh, right. I forgot about that."

I frowned. What were they talking about? "Strategies?"

"Didn't Daryl tell you?" Glenn asked. Carol bowed her head as my head fumed. No Glenn, Daryl hasn't looked at or talked to me in a week. That's what I wanted to tell him, but being the usual peacemaker, I simply smiled.

"It might have slipped my head." I said thought gritted teeth. I'd had enough of Daryl Dixon. Stupid redneck.

"Shane called in a strategy discussion for this afternoon, while the kids are taking a nap." Glenn explained. Oh, so I was a kid now? Since when was a 26-year old female a kid and a 26-year old male—Glenn—not? How sexist of Daryl! "We'll be moving locations shortly so we're being assigned weapons and new positions."

I nodded, showing him I understood, but deep down I was so pissed off at Daryl I lost appetite, and I was really hungry. I wished I never set foot in that gated community last week. I wished Daryl Dixon never saved my life. I'm a lot of things—peacemaker, quiet, relaxed, laidback, naïve, virgin—but a kid's not one of them. If I was a 'kid' I wouldn't have the ability of becoming a police officer… okay, I was only that for a day, but I'm fully qualified, otherwise I wouldn't have had the call-back. If I was a kid, I'd be in my tent, huddled in my blanket, crying for mommy and daddy. And I wasn't.

I was surrounded by people I never knew before this week, I wanted to take a warm shower instead of a dip in the lake with Shane and Ed standing guard round the perimeter of the lake. I wanted to eat oatmeal for breakfast, not whatever was leftover form the previous night (which was usually meat). I wanted my warm bed, and Benny and my old life.

I was thankful, however, of having the tent farthest from the circle. And here's why. As soon as Carol and I finished doing the laundry, I told her that I had a splitting headache from the sun, and that it was better if I ate lunch in my tent and then slept it off. She nodded and let me go inside my tent in a hurry. She popped by to give me a pain killer and some lunch—two slices of bread and some vegetables—told me to rest well and disappeared. Once she did, I quickly swallowed the pill—I really did have a splitting headache—and started packing. I wasn't going to stay with these people any longer. I'd stick around to hear their 'strategy' plans or whatever it was, maybe they'd mention a place with supplies, which I'll be taking from them, and then I'd sneak out.

When I heard my name during the conversation, I stopped packing.

"She's really great with the kids." I heard Lori tell the group. "They love her."

"Yeah." Carol said. "Hey, Daryl, why didn't you tell her about the discussion?"

"Carol." Ed snapped. He was another bastard. He treated Carol like trash, and she cleaned up after him and kept her mouth shut. That was the only thing I wanted to change in Carol. She needed to stand up for herself.

"Well, Carol, to answer your question…" My stomach turned at the sound of Daryl's voice. "I don't trust 'er. She's just a kid and she's been buggin' the fuck out of me this past week."

"She's not a kid, Daryl." Lori pointed out.

"Lori's right, Daryl." Shane chimed in. "She's a fully qualified nurse and can handle weapons."

"She's a girl, Shane!" I gasped. No he didn't… "She plays with her fucking food, and I hear her crying during the night! She's a whiny little brat. If she wants to survive, she needs to earn her place starting from the bottom."

I couldn't believe my ears, and apparently neither did Glenn. "You're kidding me right? She's the only person my age in this group, and everyone here likes her except you. She's nice, laidback and very smart. How can she grow up from being a 'kid' if you won't give her a chance?"

"Damn, Jackie Chan here grew some balls!" Merle laughed humourlessly.

"I'm with Glenn." Morales spoke for the first time.

"Count us in." Andrea and Amy said.

It was nice to have some people's backs, but I was the type of person that wanted either to be liked by everyone or hated by all. And to be called a kid and feminine was out of question.

I had to go.

I had to disappear.

* * *

**Not entirely pleased with the ending, but I'll get better, I promise.**

**Next chapter will take us back to the present.**

**Leave a review if you're enjoying the story so far, and if you want to see something in the story, feel free to voice your opinions!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Day 378: Afternoon

**Chapter 6**

**Day 383 – Afternoon**

The cracking of leaves approached as my heart beat fast. My gun was at the ready, as I kept my posture as confident as possible. I was fucking scared, but through the branches, I lowered my gun. It was definitely someone human. Duh, I would've smelled the dead from a mile away. As this person approached, I tucked away my gun.

No. Fucking. Way.

"Glenn?!" I exclaimed. He looked puzzled. I mean, of course he fucking would, we hadn't seen each other in a year. My hair was longer and darker and I was more tanned and toned than last time round. His gun was still pointing at me. "It's me, Erin!" Nothing. "Cabrera!... From the camp, remember?"

A smile slowly formed on his lips as he laughed softly and walked over to hug me. I hugged him back tightly. Thank god he survived. He was a kid too last year, but he grew! He was actually taller than me now (and are those muscles I felt?!)!

"Oh my God! I can't believe it's really you!" He pulled away and gave me a look from head to toe. "I mean last time I saw you was… Oh gosh! It's been a year! What happened to you?!"

"Kinda'f a long story." I replied. What was I fucking supposed to say? That I left because I was offended by Fuckface's comments about me behind my back? "Anyways, uh, where are you staying? Are you still with the others?"

He nodded. "In a, uh, smaller group, yeah. Lost some people, gained some others along the way…" We both looked down. I wondered who they'd lost during the past year. "We found a prison." I looked up, eyebrows raised. A prison? "It's pretty safe, and so far we're not that low on supplies. We've been here a few weeks. What about you?"

"Uh… nowhere, really." I tucked my hands in my jeans' pockets and kicked a nearby rock. "Been alone for months now."

Without even knowing, we started walking towards the direction we came from. "What happened to your last group?" he asked me before crouching under a branch to avoid it.

I couldn't tell him about that either. That was a story for another time. "We had some… disagreements so I kinda ditched them."

Glenn chuckled. "You really have changed, huh? I mean just a year ago you were so… innocent." I rolled my eyes. I was kind of avoiding adjectives like that now. I've grown. I've changed. "I should warn you. Um, you're gonna be stripped off your weapons, but you'll get them back."

I scoffed. "Since when is Shane so strict?!" Glen averted his eyes. I stopped walking. "Wait, Shane didn't make it?! Was it… Was is before… or… after?" I paused to emphasise.

"After." Glenn replied. Then knew from the look on my face that I was about to ask who ended it. "Carl."

"Okay…" I whispered. Shane accepted right from the beginning, and we got along so well. Not to mention I met him _before_ all this shit. "I was hoping for something less painful, but… okay… How many of the others didn't make it…?"

Glenn sighed. "The Morales family decided to go the other way—we don't know whether they made it or not—uh, and Ed, Merle, Sophia, T-Dog, Amy and Dale."

"Fuck!" I yelled with frustration. All damn good people… except for Ed maybe, due to his constant abuse on his wife. And that racist, homophobic Fuckface with the accent. Goddamn these fucking zombies! Fuck them! Fuck them all!

"We've four new people though. All good people." Glenn said. From afar, I could see the prison's watchtower. We were getting closer. "And, um, you're not gonna believe this… but one of the people… is Rick."

"Who the Sam heck is Rick?" I asked him. The name _was_ a little familiar… but it was impossible!

"Rick… Grimes. Erin, Rick Grimes got out of the coma a few weeks after you left and he met our group." Glenn explained. "I know, funky stuff. But it's true."

"In this world we're living in right now, that's normal." I chuckled. Glenn laughed and whistled. From afar, I saw two women—one of which was very familiar but I'd become short-sighted so I couldn't recognise her face—approaching the gate.

"Glenn's back I smiled with relief when the voice rang a bell. It was Lori. She called the others out again, and they came out in a herd. There was only one men: an elderly with a white beard. He reminded me a lot of Dale, God rest his soul.

The other woman, whom I didn't know, ran over to Glenn and kissed him. He hugged her back and then pulled away, looking over his shoulder, at me. She had short, chestnut hair down to her earlobe. She was a looker. "Maggie, I want you to meet Erin." She looked at me and smiled. I walked slowly towards her. "Erin, this is Maggie… my girlfriend." I could tell from the way he said that it was pretty new, but still serious at the same time.

"Glenn's told me about ya." She smiled. "Don't worry, all good things."

I chuckled. "I wish he'd told me about his girlfriend on our way here." I gave him a look, and he blushed.

"Oh my gosh! Erin?!" I glanced up from Maggie and saw Andrea. She ran over to me and hugged me, nearly knocking me over.

"Whoa, okay!" I laughed nervously, patting her back. When she pulled away, I saw Carol, who let me tell you, looked so much stronger than last year: back straight, chin up.

"Carol." I smiled, and she hugged me tightly. "Glenn told me… I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, sweetie." She pulled away and cupped my face. "You look tired, why don't we go in?"

"Who is she?" I heard the old man ask Maggie.

"Daddy, she's the girl they've been talkin' 'bout. Erin." She replied. "From the first survivors' camp."

"Erin!" I looked ahead and saw Carl. I grinned. How he'd changed!

"Hey buddy!" I hugged him tightly. "Damn, you're not only taller but stronger too!" He laughed and I saw Lori, who was… "Lori, you're…" I looked back at her growing belly. "Wow! Congratulations!"

She came over and gave me a hug too. I fucking missed these people… my people. "Hershel, Beth, come over here!"

The old man and a petite blonde girl walked over. "Erin, this is Hershel and Beth."

"Nice to meet y'all." I smiled and shook both their hands.

"You're really pretty." Beth told me timidly.

I looked down bashfully. "If I'm anything that's sweaty and tired as hell." When I looked back up, I saw Rick… and him. What the fuck?! The good people get to die and _he_ gets to roam this world?! He was even worse than the walkers: he talked bull.

"Well, as I live and breathe." I said. All the fuzziness and nostalgia I was feeling disappeared quickly.

"Erin?" Daryl asked, as if recognising me for the first time. I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

"Uh, Rick Grimes. I'm Erin Cabrera." I stepped over and shook his hand. "I was told by Glenn that I get stripped of my weapons, so… here goes…" I sighed and removed my bag first. I cracked my back and sighed with relief. "Thing was heavy." I told him, and continued with my weapon strip. I showed him the gun, placing it gently on the floor, then the Italian knife from underneath my shirt sleeve, and then my other four knives from my boots.

"That it?" he asked me. I was about to nod, when I remembered… the grenades.

"Oh! Almost forgot these babies…" I reached from under my shirt and into the oversized bra I was wearing—I had to hide them somewhere people wouldn't expect—and took them out, gently lowering them to the ground. I felt so fucking uncomfortable without them. I'd been keeping them for emergencies only.

"That's clever." I heard Andrea comment from behind me.

I grinned and nodded. "Now I'm ready."

"How many walkers have you killed?" he asked me.

"A little over 800…" I replied and shrugged. "I kinda lost count last month, sir."

"And how many people?"

"None, sir." I replied. He nodded.

"Good, good… You can take your weapons back. Lori will give you your own cell and some clean clothes, and then meet me back in the main area so I can show you around." I nodded and he went back inside. But Fuckface stayed.

"You're alive." He breathed out.

"Yeah, hard to believe huh?" I smiled sardonically and cocked my head to the side. "Not bad for a kid, don't you think?" I stopped smiling and gave him a glare, before picking my weapons back up and entering the building, doing so bumping hard into him on my way in.

* * *

The cell smelled like piss and shit. The air in the room smelled like death threw up a century ago and the smell was still there. I furrowed my eyebrows as I placed my bag under my pillow. Goddamn prison smelling like… prison. The clothes Lori gave me were a little on the large side, which was only good when I had my weapons on me, but since I'll be with Rick then I shouldn't have any problems, so I just brought my Italian knife and some wires in the pocket of my jacket.

"Erin?" I heard Rick call me from downstairs. My cell was right at the top of the stairs, so all I did to see what he needed was crane my body from my bed. "You all settled in?"

"Yeah, be right down!" Seeing as I looked like a pregnant woman (no offense to Lori), I unbuttoned the shirt, thanking God the camisole I was given was my exact size. I made it down stairs. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's start from outside." He told me and we went outside, where I could see Maggie, Carol and Glenn poking the walkers from through the fence wall. "So Lori tells me you were a cop?"

"If you could call me that." I replied. "'Twas my first day when shit went down. Been engaged for a weekend too. Just my luck, I guess."

"I'm really sorry to hear, Erin." He sounded sincerely sorry, which I appreciated. It wasn't, like, 'Hey, we're living amongst zombies. Shit happens.'. Not at all like that. "How did you end up with the group?"

"Uh, Shane… and Daryl… I was in a house looking for any survivors and I was about to be attacked by a walker. Shane took care of the walker. Daryl, he, um, took care of… well, me."

"Why'd you leave?"

Not that I was annoyed with the 411 from the fucking Deputy, but having to share my life story with a complete stranger made me very uncomfortable. Nobody knew this much about my life post-normality. I tried not to open up a lot. As I'd learnt the hard way, people don't give two fucks about you in the apocalypse. It's all about surviving. There's no place for vulnerability and sob stories.

"Daryl." I simply told him. "I left because of Daryl." I sighed. "Look, Rick… Sir… I appreciate your concern, or whatever. But I don't feel comfortable opening up to people. I know it makes me look like a jackass, but I'm not—I'm not the person I used to be before the world got invaded by the walking dead."

"I'm sorry, I understand." Rick replied. "But… one thing this group really needs right now is to be united, on the same page. If one person disagrees, that can risk things."

"I completely agree." I nodded. I suddenly realised where he was going with this. I didn't like it one bit. Fuck, I thought he was gonna show me around the place! I've never been inside a prison before.

"Whatever happened between you and Daryl, Erin, needs to be left in the past." Rick pointed out. Yep, there it was. The fucker. "What if you need one another during a raid or a fight? You need to put your differences aside. For the group."

I laughed humourlessly. The mother-fucking-fucker. "I don't have any differences with the guy. I ain't done nothin' wrong, so if you want your little group thing to work out, _he_ needs to apologise to _me_. You see this person right here?" I circle my face with my finger. "This isn't who I used to be last year, Rick. A year ago, I was a vegetarian, a scaredy cat. I've grown. I've changed. I won't let anyone walk all over me. Not anymore." I panted. Glad that was out there. During my rant, I realised I was blacked out. I wasn't seeing anything. Rick was looking at me, stone-faced, like a true goddamn dictator, which was good, because I hated people who felt sorry for me, or felt any sort of pity in any way towards me. So why was I feeling so… sad and empty inside? "Now if you'll excuse me…" I averted my eyes. Are these tears I'm feeling?!... Goddamn. "… I need to be left alone." And I ran back inside.


	7. Chapter 7 - Day 378: Later That Afternoo

**Chapter 7 – Day 387**

**Later That Afternoon**

I almost got lost trying to find a fucking place to collect my thoughts. Who knew this abandoned building would be so damn huge?! I'd been running through so many corridors I thought I was going in circles. Finally, I got to the end of many corridors, and opened the last door. I stepped in the room and realised it was a former control room of some sort. Having been through so many corridors, I realised nobody would find me up here, so I closed the door and walked towards the window, which was all dusted and brown.

Of course Rick would want me to get along with that redneck piece of shit. Because, well, if two people don't get in each other's way that's a fucking problem right? There was no fucking way in hell—oh wait, here we are—I am going to talk to him. I was a 'kid' anyways right?

I rolled my eyes as the stench of redneck opened—and almost—destroyed my sense of smell. I smiled sarcastically, still not turning round. "You know, I can now smell walkers from half a mile away… let alone horse shit." I finally turned round and faced him. The first thought that came to mind was how attractive he'd gotten since seeing him downstairs, which was wrong on so many levels, I couldn't understand _why_ I was even thinking it. I wanted to punch myself in the head, give myself amnesia, hopefully I'd forget. "I've nothin' to say to you." I crossed my arms across my chest and leaned against the windowsill.

"We kinda need to talk." He replied. 'Kinda need to talk.' Piece of shit. "Rick, he's all for unity and shit."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "I gathered."

"He locked all this wing." He explained, and closed the door. I took that split of a second of having his back at me as an opportunity to—very reluctantly—check him out. Why, oh why was I having these thoughts?! I haven't even had these thoughts about _Benny_ for Christ's sake! He then leaned against the door, arms crossed. "Won't let us out 'til we straighten things out."

"Can't we just pretend to get along and move the fuck on?"

Daryl shook his head and laughed humourlessly. "Rick can see past the pretending."

"Let's elect him President while we're at it then!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms up in the air with frustration. "Look, I'm not one to talk and share feelings anymore." And with a mimicking tone, I smirked sarcastically, and added, "Ain't a kid anymore."

"I can see that now." I raised my eyebrows. Did he now? "Look, kid—"

"Not. A. Fucking. Kid." I cut him off through gritted teeth.

He ignored me. "I'm sorry for what happened last year an' all… but you gotta admit you were a little… clingy."

I scoffed. "_Clingy_?! Psh, well excuse me for showing some fucking gratitude to someone who saved my fucking life!"

"_That_ was your way of showing gratitude?! Wow." He chuckled. What a fucking douchebag. "Any perkier and I'd have mistook your signs as an invite for sex."

I fumed. Sex. What else could a man think about during a time where people are dying? Being the naïve-thinking girl I'll always be, I didn't know whether what he said meant he _wanted_ to have the—I mean, Do It—with me, or not.

"Listen here, buddy." Anger was boiling. If anything touched me, it would melt. That's how angry I was. "Whatever 'problems' you had with me showing gratitude, that's beyond me. I'm sorry I was nice to you. Next time you try and save me, I'll simply cut your throat with thin wire, how 'bout that, huh? Oh, and while we're at it, I can poison your food next time I want to compliment you. Is that what you want, Dixon? And if you fucking as to _dare_ think of calling me kid, I'll be doing all of the above. Slow and painful."

All I got in response was a long silence.

Then laughter. My eyes opened wide. I'd never heard him laugh. I could tell it was a genuine laugh, but I couldn't tell _why_ he was laughing. Because what I did was fucking vent to him… and he _laughs_!

"Look, Erin…" Erin. The way my name rolled off his tongue with that accent, turned my insides outside. Oh my god. Did I just think that?! Unthink! Reverse! Rewind! "I'm sorry I was a dick, alright? I mean we're talking about the goddamn apocalypse here! I had no time to fool around." Fool around. As in have s—Do It. "I mean, you're nice an' all." Ah, so he _can_ compliment genuinely. "An' I meant no harm, I swear. So we're good?"

He was looking me in the eyes and all while he was talking. I gotta say, his eyes were so captivating. They were that shade of blue one would think 'Ah. Like the sky', only his were far more beautiful.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!

"Sure. We're good." I gave him my most sincere of smiles and stuck my hand out. He kept staring at it. "You're supposed to shake it?"

"Yeah. Right." He cleared his throat and shook my hand.

I smirked. "Kinda wish your brother was here to see this. He'd end up whoopin' your ass for making peace with me." His smile faltered. Shit. I forgot Merle didn't make it. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's okay." He replied, shrugging. "I kinda think he's out there somewhere."

I frowned. "Wait, I thought he was… you know…" I ran my thumb from one side of my neck to the other. "Kaput. One of 'em."

"T-Dog tied him to a pole on the roof of the shopping mall downtown, few days after Rick got out of his coma. Next day, all we found was a lot of blood… and his hand."

I winced. That must've been painful for Merle. I actually felt half bad for him to have gone through all that. I made myself comfortable and sat on the floor in front of Daryl. He followed my movements. "As much as I didn't like him, I think he's a pretty strong man. I have a gut feeling he's still out there, looking for you probably."

"Yeah, I think so too." He paused and gave me a look. "So have you really been travelling alone this past year?"

I shifted uncomfortably, placing one foot underneath the other. "No. I, uh, kinda spent a couple of weeks with a group, but they thought I was a kid too." I smiled triumphantly. "They never listened to my warnings, and one time they got screwed over by a group of walkers, so I left them."

"To die?!" Daryl exclaimed.

I shook my head. "No! Goddamn, Daryl, I'm not a bad person! But last time I turned my head to look at 'em, they fighting them off. They also tried to seduce me. Multiple times." I rolled my eyes and smiled weakly. "They were worse than Merle, who at least stopped when I told him to."

"So, um, do you think your boyfriend's alive?" he asked.

I looked down and shrugged. "I dunno… I hope so. I mean, he's a strong guy even though he had your average nine-to-five job. And he's very smart. Saved my life in more ways than one…" I realised I was close to tears by the end of this. Fuck, I'd never told anyone all of this. Why was I talking about this with _Daryl_ of all people?! I always thought it'd be with some mother figure like Carol or Lori. It was getting sad—plus the room stank of sweat—so I said, "Can you get Rick and get us outta here? I'm hungry."

Daryl smiled and helped me stand up. He opened the door for us and we walked towards the main area of the wing. "By the way, there's no need to call Rick."

"Yeah? Why?"

"Door was never locked." Daryl smirked, and continued walking. I stopped.

"You ass!" I yelled and ran to catch up with him.


	8. Chapter 8 - Day 380: Morning

**Chapter 8**

**Day 380 - Morning**

When I opened my eyes, I felt surprisingly refreshed. It had been a while since I last slept so decently for a full night. Had been weeks, or even months. Longest I'd slept in the last six months was, what, two? Three hours? I was usually on the move and, since I was all by myself, I was usually guarding myself.

I sat up on my cell bed and stretched my arms and back. I groaned when I heard my bones crack. That's when I knew I had a fucking great night. I immediately got down on the floor and did 50 sit-ups and push-ups, something I do every morning. After that, I went downstairs, and was greeted by the Greene family, who were surprised to see me.

"Ah, you're finally awake." Hershel smiled, handing me a plate. I devoured the meal. It tasted awful, but I was hungry.

"Yeah. 'Bout that…" I said, still chewing my food. "Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"We had orders not to disturb you." Maggie replied.

I raised an eyebrow. Wow, Rick really _did_ make the orders around here. Was I really that tired?! "Rick gave you orders not to wake me up? How nice of 'im." I dead-panned.

"Actually…" Lori spoke up for the first time as she folded some clothes. "… Daryl gave us the order."

"Rick just rolled with it." Maggie pointed out.

"How long was I out?"

"… Two days."

I immediately stopped eating. Oh, I see how it is then. I was still 'the kid'. He let me sleep for two fucking days so I wouldn't protest when he tells me to stay behind the fences. Oh I was going to fucking kill that son of a bitch! I stood up, nearly knocking my chair off.

"Erin, are you okay?" Maggie asked me. I looked around. Carol was outside with Beth and Carl, killing every walker coming towards the fences. I didn't see Andrea anywhere.

"Where's Andrea?" I tried to compose myself, but my voice trembled. I was angry. Fuck, I was furious!

"She went on a supply run with—" I knew what Lori was about to say, but I was already halfway towards the car currently coming to a halt.

"Got the medicine?" I heard Carol ask Rick. He nodded and gave her a duffel bag. She turned round and grinned. "Oh, hey! You're up!"

"Yeah up and hittin'." I replied through gritted teeth, waiting for Daryl. "Where is he?"

Rick jerked his head at a motorcycle. Of course. Daryl fucking Dixon on a fucking motorcycle. The universe was sending me a message. I just didn't know whether I was turned on by him on the motorcycle… or the motorcycle was my murder weapon.

"You!" I exclaimed. He stopped right in front of me.

"Mornin', sunshine." He grunted.

"Don't you mornin' sunshine me, you dickface." I snapped, pointing a finger in his face. He frowned as he adjusted the strap of his crossbow. I made a quick mental note to steal it while he's asleep.

"Uh… Glenn, remember that thing you wanted to show me way over there?" Andrea told him, and dragged him away. Rick followed them. Pussy.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"What's wrong?" I repeated and scoffed. "I'm still 'the kid'! That's what's wrong! I slept for two whole days so I wouldn't protest right! Avoid the bickering and the whining! You know I can prove to you I'm strong and a great fighter."

Daryl smirked and shook his head. "You got it all wrong, princess." He insisted. "Look, I figured after a year of travellin' alone, you needed some well-deserved rest, so I thought it'd be better if no one disturbed you."

"Wait, you were being nice to me?"

"Yah." He shrugged, and I could've sworn he looked away because he was blushing. I could hear myself laughing inside my head. I made Daryl Dixon blush! I wanted to laugh in his face so badly, but he looked fucking adorable doing so, which way why I bit my lower lip to suppress my laughter.

"Fine." I told him. "Sorry I snapped…"

"Wanna go huntin' for food later today?" I looked up at him. "Still need to prove me wrong." Then he gave me a cheeky wink: that single thing I literally thought turned my insides into liquids. My face felt warm.

Oh no. I was blushing.

"Sure, whatever." I coolly replied. "After you shower." I wrinkled my nose. "You stink of death."

* * *

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and stood there, staring. I had my hair down, something I haven't done in a year, covering both ears. I looked like a preacher's daughter, so I tucked my hair behind my right ear. No way, I was very self-conscious of the missing piece at the top from an accident I had as a child, so I untucked my hair from the right and tucked the left side. I groaned. Hair down really isn't my thing, I realised it then, so I pulled it back in a tight ponytail. I took a deep breath and nodded with approval. Decent-looking. Not bad at all. I looked at my clothes: dirty white wife beater that fit me just perfectly, my only pair of trousers—the ones I had for my police uniform, which were now a little loose on the sides—and my boots.

I reached behind me and grabbed my leather jacket—well, it was Paulo's, but Paulo wasn't here anymore—and put it on. I looked okay, but the jacket was too damn big. I groaned with frustration.

"What cha doin'?" A voice behind me asked. I yelped and jumped. Whoever was behind me giggled. I rolled my eyes. Beth.

"Beth! Never sneak up on me, especially when I have four knives hidden all over me!" I exclaimed as she sat on my cell bed.

"Getting ready for your date with Daryl?" she asked me, and giggled again. I swear the chick was as nice as she is fucking annoying.

"It's not a date, Beth!" I insisted, the jacket still on me. "We're gonna go hunt for food to put on your plate."

"But you like him." She said matter-of-factly.

I snorted, scoffed and laughed hysterically (something I unfortunately did when I was kidding myself, but nobody knew that). "No I don't."

"So you weren't goofing around in front of the mirror with your hair and clothes for a whole half hour." She chuckled. I frowned. Had she really been spying me for _that_ long? I swear I was only in front of the mirror for ten minutes! "He's really nice, Daryl. He may not look the part, but he really is."

I couldn't help but smile, thankfully it didn't reflect on the mirror so Beth couldn't see it. If I wasn't the one thinking so, then it must be true. Beth was a girl of very few words, but when she spoke, it was truth. Maggie and Hershel told me so.

"I know he is…" I said. "He saved my life 'bout a year ago."

She smiled. "When Carol's daughter went missing, he spent a lot of time looking for her." She told me. I didn't know that, of course. "He'd sometimes spend up to a whole week looking for her, day and night." That either. So Daryl Dixon _did_ have a heart even though he was a pain in the ass at times. He really _did_ want me to rest. "Pretend I didn't tell you anything." She told me, standing up. "He doesn't really like talking about stuff like that."

I nodded and gave her my word. Before leaving the room, I picked up my spiked bat, which Rick gave to me as a sort of welcome-to-the-group gift. It was a good thing I have a great swing. I'd grown a little tired of using my guns _all_ the time, which meant having to constantly wasting time to load the thing. Now, however, I can take those sons of bitches with a swing or two.

Daryl was already on his motorcycle, waiting for me. He had his helmet on already, and was holding another in his hands. I walked up to him and taped him on the shoulder. He looked me from head to toe and hummed.

"What?" I said, putting the bat down so I could put on my helmet. I picked up the bat again.

"Nothin'." He grunted, and started the engine. I rolled my eyes and hopped on. I placed the bat in the back compartment of the motorcycle and wrapped my arms round his waist. Through his leather vest and shirt, I could feel his strong, toned abs, which made my toes curl.

When he felt my arms round him, he yelled, "Hold on tight, princess!" and rode away.

* * *

**If you want to see anything in the story, don't hesitate to leave your suggestions! I'm always open to new ideas and criticism too **

**Hope you like this!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Day 380: Later That Morning

**Chapter 9**

**Day 380 – Later That Morning**

So far, I hope, I haven't fucked up in front of Daryl. Not that he'd let me swing my bat or anything. He wanted me to prove myself or whatever, and he won't let me fight the walkers. What the fuck was up with him?

"You know, part of proving you wrong kinda consists of me fighting." I pointed out after having killed several walkers in the vicinity.

"Not yet." He replied, and held his hand up at the sound of a breaking twig. I stopped, bat at the ready. If I don't get swinging now, I'm going to have to abandon Daryl and let him die. Then again, how is that proving him something about me? I looked to my right and, through the branches, I spotted some hares. I gently tapped the man on the shoulders, but he ignored me as a walker approached us. I tapped his shoulder again. "Shut up!" he hissed, aiming his crossbow at it.

"Daryl… to the right." I whispered back, keeping my eyes on the hares. I wasn't about to miss out on dinner. I had to do it for the group and myself included.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." He snapped. He killed that one walker and about four more appeared.

"Kill the walkers. I'm gonna go kill our dinner." I was about to leave, but he aggressively grabbed me by the wrist. "Ow! Daryl! That fucking hurts!" I whispered loudly. "There are a couple of hares over there. I'm fucking hungry, and so are the others. So let me the fuck go!"

He looked at me, then at the approaching walkers. I knew what he was thinking: he gets the walkers, I get the dinner. I didn't know which would prove me worthy. Both were pretty important jobs. It took Daryl a while to decide, so much so, that the walkers were too close for him to shoot, so I jumped in front of him and swung my bat, hitting the thing hard in the face. It made a gurgling noise, and when I pulled out the bat, it fell down.

"I'll take these down. Daryl, the hares are behind the bush, nestling under the tree."

He still stood there, as if he was still torn between helping me kill the walkers and getting the hares. I dug into my pocket with one hand, and swung the bat with the other. I took out my bundle of thin wires and threw them at him.

"What're these for?" Daryl asked. I swung my bat again. In the process I'd killed three walkers, and Daryl was fucking standing there.

"To strangle the…" I impaled the walker in front of me and grunted as I pulled out the bat. My shoulder hurt like a bitch. "… hares." This time, I swung the bat with both my hands. "Quick to kill 'em." Swing. Splat. Dead. "Bullet residue can contaminate the thing."

I glanced over at Daryl and he looked like he was still processing what I was telling him. "Uh-huh, yah." He grunted, and went for our dinner. After killing all the approaching walkers, I decided to do a little snooping around for food by myself. I knew where to look. Having spent a lot of months hunting by myself increased my hearing and smelling abilities for food. Look at me: I've turned into a fucking dog now. Stupid apocalypse!

I froze on the spot. I smelled a deer. How I knew it was actually a deer I'll never fucking know, but I had a gut feeling. I cursed myself when I approached the helpless animal, with its backside at me, as I realised I had no thin wire left I gave it all to Daryl. I fucking hope he'd be nice enough to give it back.

Well, looks I'm gonna have to wrestle thins thing.

* * *

"Erin! Erin!" I heard Daryl yell. The deer was dead. Took a while, but it was finally dead. I killed it with my bare hands. I didn't want to yell back out of fear of more walkers. "Goddamn, why'd I ever trust her?"

"I'll tell you why." I said when I saw him approach. He ran through the bushes and branches at the sound of my voice. He stopped when he saw the dead animal in a chokehold. "Because I got us a buffet for dinner tonight, baby." I smiled triumphantly when his mouth hanged open a little.

"You killed it." He stated. I nodded. "With your bare hands…?"

"Yep." I let the animal go and stood up from the ground. "I'll tell ya one thing: it's hard to chokehold an animal this big. My shoulders hurt from the pressure." My smile grew even wider when I realised he was _speechless_. I rendered Daryl Dixon _speechless_: on our first hunt together! "So, was this mornin' enough to prove to you I'm not a kid anymore?"

"Uh…" was all that came out of his mouth.

"I'll take that as a yes." Then I chuckled. "And better close that mouth before you choke on a fly, pretty boy." I told him and winked. What the fuck was I thinking? Pretty boy? Winking? This was so unlike me I could feel my inner self looking at me, thinking 'what the fuck woman?'. Either this apocalypse made me more of a flirt, or I'm gone apeshit already. So I changed the subject quickly. "How are we gonna carry this thing with us on the motorcycle?"

"Cut it in pieces and tie it to the back. I got some rope." He finally spoke. I looked down at his belt and saw all the hares tied round his waist. Funnily enough, he looked like a warrior with the dead animals and the crossbow in his hand. Who am I and what have I done with myself?

I only realised I was staring for too long WITH MY MOUTH OPEN when he laughed and said, "Better close that mouth before you choke on a fly, pretty lady." He also mimicked my wink, and went to get his motorcycle.

Well, two can play at this game, Dixon.

* * *

When we were close to the prison gate, I whistled and signalled Maggie and Carl to open the gate for us, while Carol and Beth distracted the walker further to the right. We drove in and the gate closed behind us.

"Whoa, is that deer?!" Carl exclaimed with astonishment, pointing at the back of the motorcycle. We had to cut the poor animal in pieces, its head sticking out of the back compartment.

"Yeah, we're gonna eat big tonight, buddy." I replied while hopping off the motorcycle. I took off my helmet and shook my head. "Got several hares too."

Carl ran inside, probably to get his dad, and Maggie jogged up to us.

"Surprised you survived this long with 'im." She half-joked.

"Hey! I'm right here!" Daryl exclaimed, taking off his helmet.

"Well, I did a pretty good job today." I looked at him and smiled. We made eye contact, and it felt like I was in a daze. A beautiful one. "Right, Dixon?"

"Yeah. You did." And for the first time ever, he smiled. It wasn't just a smile. It was a _genuine_ smile. It was wide, almost a grin. And it was so weird seeing him smile at all, let alone like that. But I liked it. I liked it a lot. We kept staring at each other as he walked round the vehicle to unload the animals. He didn't really need help: he was strong enough to carry the deer on his back, the hares still tied to his waist.

When he went out back, Maggie smirked. "Somethin' goin' on between you two?" she asked me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Just… I've known the guy a while now. And he's never smiled. To _anyone_." She explained. "Lori told me that even in the old group, he never smiled."

"Hey, I wrestled a fucking deer with my bare hands. What's not to smile about!" I told her. I knew from the look on her face she wasn't getting any of this shit. She didn't believe me. "He thought was a naïve kid. Well now not anymore."

"I dunno much about your past with Daryl, but you two were showing some chemistry." She commented. "He never does."

"Never ever…?" I sounded like a stupid lovesick teenager. I hated myself for falling down to that level.

"Ever." Maggie replied with a playful smile, and went back inside.

* * *

I know this is fucking weird, but I am _never_ closing my eyes while I'm showering. I mean, I have to while I'm rinsing my hair, but I won't ever again.

I had a fantasy while I was washing myself. I won't go into detail as I'm currently trying my best _not_ to think about it again, but it involved me pressed against the cold tiled wall as I was being fu—Done. I was being done… by Him.

I was starting to realise how much this zombie apocalypse has changed me. Before, I was never bothered by sexual intercourse, at all. I wanted to wait for the right guy, the right place and the right time. I mean, technically, that was all over and done with with the wrong guy, at the wrong and at the wrong time, but I'm not going to talk about that just yet. Now, I crave a man's touch as he makes love to me.

Love. What is it in this world really? Maggie and Glenn had it really good. They were always making love in the watchtower, hugging, holding hands. I found it weird that Rick wasn't showing this affection towards his wife, who was the mother of his children. That is, until Hershel explained to me that, while Rick was still not in the picture in this apocalypse, she slept with Shane several times. SHANE. HER HUSBAND'S BESTFRIEND. DEPUTY SHANE WALSH. THE FUCK! Ever since I found out, I started looking at her a little differently.

All of this philosophical shit made me think of Benny. Like Daryl, he too saved my life.

Two years ago, while I was still a nurse, I was raped. I went to a bar with some fellow nurses, with whom I shared a room with, and I was feeling a little under the weather so I told them I was heading to bed. They let me go alone, and as I was walking—the place was only up the street—I was grabbed and was raped. Behind a fucking dumpster. I thought he was going to kill me after he had his go, but then, He appeared. Out of nowhere. He grabbed the man, who was bigger than him, and tried to hit him. The rapist, however, was stronger, and he pinned the kid down as he punched him in the nose. I remember grabbing a lid of a trash can, which lay nearby, stood up and hit the rapist in the back of his head.

The hero, I learned afterwards, was named Benny Holt. He told me he lived in the building next to mine. I barely socialised with people except for my nurse friends, so I never knew him. He was the nicest, funniest person I'd ever met. I knew that he, the person who saved my life, was The One. After a few months of dating, I introduced him to the family. My parents, both doctors, were a bit wary of him, as he 'wasn't within our field'. So I told them the story of how he saved me from the rapist. I hadn't told them about the rape before as I feared them. After that, they were more accepting of him. He was also the one who convinced me to go to the police academy after I'd told him my parents would never let me live it down. That was the reason they kicked me out: I chose 'some boy' over my family's legacy.

Fuck that legacy. I never wanted to become a nurse in the first place. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to fight crime and save damsels in distress such as my former self.

"Erin?"

At the sound of Andrea's voice, I blinked, and realised I was still under the shower. My whole body was numb, and my head ached. I quickly turned off the water and wrapped a towel round my tiny frame while she walked over to me with a genuine smile.

"You okay?" she asked me. "You were here a while and we got a little worried."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Got lost in a train of thoughts." I admitted.

"Glad you're okay." She replied. "Get dressed. Dinner's ready."

I nodded, dried myself and got dressed quickly.

* * *

**So now we know more about Erin's past pre-apocalypse and why she doesn't like to talk about sexuality!**

**Let me know what you think so far in the story and what you want to see in the future in the reviews' section; I love reading your comments but it's a shame I don't get a lot :(**


	10. Chapter 10 - Day 388: Morning

**Chapter 10**

**Day 388 – Morning**

I woke up before any of the others. Rick was up in the watchtower as he usually was. He'd been doing his best at avoiding Lori, to the extent where he wouldn't even sleep next to her. I grabbed a piece of cloth and made my way to the front of the garage. All our trucks, cars and Daryl's motorcycle were all parked. I didn't have the time, but it was barely sunrise.

I'd been with this group for ten whole days. They're now all being nice to me. Me and Daryl had gone on a few more hunts after he saw how good I was the first time. I'd also been on supply runs in a few buildings.

I was hiding a secret from Rick though: I found a hidden basement in a small house just outside of town—it was the exact middle point between the prison and town—in which I hid for a while. And I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I hid stuff there: food, water, alcohol, clothes, toys, magazines, books, guns, ammo… anything I got my hands on during my hunts. They were scattered all over the house, so that if someone found something, they'd take just that, not anything else. Why I hid them? Well, I wanted to look or a decent group, and once I trust them and they return that trust, I'd tell about the place. I was hoping the group had kids. Luckily, these people had Carl and another on the way.

I set the cloth on the ground and I sat on it, my legs crossed and my hands rested on my thighs as I inhaled through my nose, and exhaled deeply through my mouth. Yep, that's right: Erin Cabrera is doing fucking yoga. Never thought I'd be able to do any of that shit ever again. Last time I went to a yoga session was with a former nurse colleague. She had a free session for two and her partner didn't want to go, so she asked me to tag along. I fucking loved it: the peace, serenity, emptying of the mind. After that, I practised yoga by myself in the living room. I also heard that yoga helps with flexibility in bed. Tori, the friend who introduced me to yoga, told me it worked for her and her girlfriend, but I may never tell anymore.

From the primary pose, I switched to the downward dog. I could hear a few birds chirping, which made me smile. Sometimes, the simplest things made me smile: hearing birds chirping, the sun shining, the smallest blooming flower. Even seeing the others smiling, it made my fucking day. The other day, I found a ball and gave it to Carl, and I took off the spikes off the baseball bat and we played some baseball. Seeing his laugh and smile made _me_ smile and laugh. He was starting to grow in on me. We treated each other like siblings: one minute we're bickering, the next we're laughing, engaged in a tickle war.

I then used my upper body strength to lift my legs up in the air, my head gently touching the ground as I moved to the Utthita Pada, when I smelled the leather and cigarettes.

"Morning, Dixon." I said as I felt the blood rushing through my brain.

"How do you do that?" he asked and I glanced at him. I only saw him upside down. He sat down on a chair facing me.

"You smell like cigarettes and leather." I replied matter-of-factly.

"What're you doin'?" he asked curiously.

"Yoga." I said standing back up. I took a few seconds to get my head together and then did the Dancing Shiva, probably my favourite pose. It was the one that calmed me the most.

Daryl grunted. "Why?"

"It increases agility and inner peace." I replied calmly.

"Peace? We're living the apocalypse, honey. We won't be havin' peace for a while." He chuckled.

"Notice I haven't punched you in the face yet." I smirked. "Means I'm too relaxed to do so." I paused and gave him a look. "Wanna try it?"

"No thanks." He told me. "Not into that mumbo-jumbo shit."

"Suit yourself." I stood up straight, raising my hands as I inhaled, dropping them slowly when I exhaled. "Listen… Can you bring everyone in the main area? I need to tell you guys somethin'."

"You okay?" he asked me. I looked at him and I could see how concerned he was. I grinned.

"I'm great, Dixon. I just know what we're going to do today." I told him. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Tell everyone to be up and ready in ten."

"What's the meeting gonna be about?"

I stopped by the door, and turned round, smiling broadly. "I know where we can get some supplies."

* * *

I sat on the big wooden box as I waited for everyone to join us in the back yard. Only Lori, Carl and Hershel were left. I wasn't in such a rush, but I could tell Rick and Daryl were on edge. Rick kept looking at his watch, which I knew for sure never worked, and Daryl was constantly glancing at me, tapping his feet impatiently and then walking to the other side, and then back again.

"Sorry it took so long." Lori smiled apologetically, accompanied by Hershel and Carl on either side. She looked over eight months pregnant for sure, but she was a pistol: always on her feet, strong woman.

"It's okay." I replied with a smile. I gave Rick a look. "So, uh, can I start?" He nodded and gestured me to carry on. "So, uh, Rick called y'all here for a meeting. But he's not the one to do the talkin' today." I got blank faces. Glenn coughed and I carried on. I wasn't good at public speaking. The silence scared me a lot. "I feel like… like I can trust y'all now." I spread my arms open to emphasise on the whole group. Maggie grinned, while Daryl nodded in agreement. "And I'm assumin' you guys trust me too, considering I'm a bit of a pain in the ass." I glanced at Daryl and gave him a knowing wink. He chuckled.

"You're not!" Glenn exclaimed.

"You're the best." Carl commented, making me feel fuzzy inside. That kid was everything to me.

"Thanks." I laughed. "Anyways, um… I gotta tell you guys somethin'." I paused. "Before coming here, I spent a few days in a hut situated deep in the forests. Can't see it clearly as it's mostly covered with bushes, shrubs and trees… Um, and I've hidden some stuff there."

"Stuff…?" Rick repeated. I looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah. Ammo, guns, knives, food, water, magazines, books, clothes, medicine… anythin' I found here and there. I hid them in that house." I explained. "But there's a problem getting to the house…" I looked down, blushing slightly. "I hid the map to the house."

"Where?" Rick asked.

"That's the thing. I was drunk when I drew it. I just dug a hole somewhere and laced it there." I admitted. "But there's everything in that house. All the supplies one needs in an apocalypse."

"Um, why did you hide food and water? Didn't you need it?" Andrea asked me.

"I, uh… I did. I needed it badly… but I figured if I found a group worth the supplies I've been collectin' for over three months, then I'd give it all to them." I replied. "I know that this is the apocalypse we're talkin' about, and that I needed that, but how can one person be better than a whole group?"

"That's, uh, awfully nice of ya." Daryl murmured. "And how can we be sure no one took these supplies?"

I smirked. "Good question, Daryl…" I replied. "I hid them all over, from the attic, down to the basement. I dug through walls, ceilings, floors, remaining furniture… Plus, like I said, the house Is barely visible. But I _did_ set a few traps for trespassers." I chuckled. "I was drunk doing all of this, by the way."

"Can't tell whether you're a mastermind or a maniac, Cabrera." Glenn joked.

"SO what I'm suggesting is I join the men on the hunt for supplies. Now since there's only one car, I don't think everything will fit in it."

"A _truck_ is small?!" Beth exclaimed, eyes wide. "How many supplies will you be moving then!"

"Believe me, Beth. There's a lot." I replied. "Plus there's some furniture in the basement which are in good shape…" I looked at Lori. "There's also some toys for the baby. I think I saved some formula too."

"Erin… if there's any way we can repay you, just say the word." Rick told me. I smiled.

"All I need is hunting and supply runs and I'm good." I told him. "Being locked up in this place is not good for me. I've been running around the country for a whole year. I know things. I'm a very cunning person, Rick."

Rick nodded. "Okay, you'll be on the supply and hunting team."

"And I'd rather be the lead in this run."

"Nah-uh. Out of question." Daryl intervened.

"Dude, I'm the only one that knows about this place. Of course I have to lead." I argued, standing up. "I might have some arrows for your crossbow, but I was so drunk I forgot where I put them in the first place." I sighed dramatically. "Oh, well… no arrows for you, mister."

Daryl groaned and rolled his eyes. "This once." And he walked back inside. I smiled triumphantly. Ass… and speaking of, I'd tap that.

* * *

**Not happy with the ending (even though it has some banter) and how filler-esque this chapter is, but it's 11pm and WAY past my deadline! Next chapter will pick up from here. Expect a lemon or two in the next chapter! You've been warned!**

**[PS. yoga poses mentioned were searched about on Google]**


	11. Chapter 11 - Day 388: Later That Morning

**Chapter 11**

**Day 388 – Later That Morning**

Leading this wolf pack fucking ruled. I sat in the front of the truck, gave Glenn directions and orders. I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off of my face!

"Are you sure we're heading towards the right direction, Erin?" Rick asked me. I turned round to look at him.

"Like I said, I was drunk as fuck. But I remember leaving big rocks by trees to mark miles." I looked ahead and saw a familiar red Volvo. I knew what it meant: we were close. I remember driving it before I found the hut, but I was so tired and drunk I lost control and hit a tree. The tree landed close to the house. "There. Stop over that broken tree." I told Glenn, pointing at it. He nodded and slowly parked the car.

"We're here?" Daryl asked while getting out of the truck. We followed him and I nodded.

"Yep. I remember hitting this tree. It's how I got this beauty mark." I joked, pointing at a scar on my forehead. I decided to search the car one last time. I'd slept in it so many times. This fucking car was my home for over four months. And thank god I did… because I didn't remember hiding toiletries inside it.

"You hid this stuff?" Glenn asked incredulously. He began laughing as I pulled out more stuff. "Whoa!"

"I don't remember this at all." I admitted. Rick chuckled and started loading one of the many empty bags. I caught Daryl's eye, and saw he was confused. I looked down and blushed a little. "I was drunk a lot, you see."

He grunted—how else would he reply to anything we say?—and stood on the lookout. At the bottom of the supplies, I found a small paper with the numbers 47-19-33 scribbled on it. I recognised the handwriting as my own.

"Locker combination?" Daryl asked, taking the paper from my hand. I shrugged.

"I think so…" Then I remembered the vault in the basement. The hut belonged to some millionaire before the apocalypse. "Hey… Yeah. Combination to a vault in the basement."

"Why would there be a vault in a basement of a hut?" Rick asked, shaking his head. Glenn stayed in the truck while Rick, Daryl and I made our way into the wood and towards the house.

"I may have underestimated the size of it. I think a rich person lived in it cos the valuable shit in that building was beyond me." I pointed out. We got there pretty fast.

"_This_ belonged to a millionaire?" Daryl scoffed. The building was all dirty and half destroyed. So destroyed trees and grass was starting to grow from the walls and the ground. "Shit."

"I know how bad it looks." I said. "But it's inside we gotta be."

"You know where you set the traps?" Rick asked me, careful where he was stepping. I shrugged. "You really don't remember anything?" I shook my head. "Okay let's just stick together and make it safely inside okay?"

Me and Daryl looked at each other and nodded. Rick took the lead this time, but Daryl let me walk in front of him. And I swear to god I felt his hands on my lower waist, like he didn't want me to tip over to the sides. I turned round and gave him a glare, but he looked like he was doing nothing wrong. When we were almost at the front door, we heard growling. I rolled my eyes.

"Walkers." I murmured, looking around. Daryl stepped in front of me and aimed his crossbow at the few walker sin the vicinity. I glanced over at Rick and saw him bending down with a knife in his hand. I assumed they were once people looking for a place to squat in and got stuck in my booby traps. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. At least I did something useful while I was blinded by alcohol.

"Well, at least ya did somethin' good with them traps." Daryl murmured beside me, and walked over to help Rick. Did Daryl read my mind just now?!

And even weirder than that… did he compliment me again?! Lately, all he'd been doing apart from his usual growling and grunting was compliment my skills. When I was guarding the fences, he said I had great aim. When I was in the watchtower and had to shoot from there, he said the same thing. When I was cleaning the guns with Carol and Andrea, he told me I was very fast and good at it. Who is he and what the fuck has he done with Daryl 'broody and moody over every fucking thing' Dixon? I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, but it's a little weird to see him be so nice to me.

"Door won't budge." Rick told me. He pushed it again. "I think something's blocking it from the inside."

I smirked. "Not really." I said and swiftly walked over to the door. After a deep breath, I gave the door one, hard kick and it immediately opened, falling to the ground with a loud thud. Rick, however, _was_ right: I'd hammered some pallets of wood to the door and got out of a back window so nobody would open the door. I just realised I can do some pretty weird shit when I'm drunk.

"Nice!" Daryl exclaimed. Number two so far, and this is really starting to creep me out.

I stared at Rick as he nodded with approval. "Good job, Erin."

I smiled bashfully. "Well, you know… I try." I laughed nervously. If there's something that will NEVER change, apocalypse or not, is the way I react to compliments. I don't just thank the person; sometimes I'd brush it off, or smiled bashfully. God I fucking hate this.

"Found something!" Daryl exclaimed from inside what looked like a kitchenette. He walked back into the main foyer, a sack flung over his shoulder. "Pretty heavy too."

"Well what's in it?" Rick asked urgently. Daryl opened it and smirked. Rick grinned. "Weapons."

"Is this a sling shot?!" Daryl exclaimed, taking out something from inside. I nodded. "You made all these?" I nodded again. "Wow, you had a _lot_ of time on your hands then."

"I mean…" I paused, and then decided to change the structure of the sentence. "Well, you see…" I rolled my yes. "I was alone. Had to do somethin' in my free time…" I murmured, looking away. Rick patted my shoulder, still smiling.

"We can use these. Good job, Erin!" he told me. "You know where you put the ammo?"

"The vault." I replied. "Along with bigger weapons, food, water and clothing. You know, basic stuff."

"Okay, you take the vault. I'll be upstairs and Daryl will take the ground floor." Rick ordered.

"We can't leave Erin alone, man." Daryl told him. I raised an eyebrow knowingly. "What if there are walkers downstairs?"

"Then I'll be okay." I replied firmly. "I've over five weapons hidden all over me, remember?"

Obviously, he ignored me. "Nah, you ain't goin' down there alone. Over my dead body."

What is the deal with this fucking dude?

"Okay… I'll take this floor and the upper one. Yell if you need help." Rick told us. We nodded, and watched him leave. I didn't waste any time fooling around, so I immediately made my way down the stairs.

"Hey wait up!" Daryl exclaimed.

"We're tight on time, Daryl. We can't slow down for any reason." I said while I waited for him to come down. I turned around and was about to walk ahead when—

"Look out!" I heard Daryl yell from behind me. I didn't have time to register my surroundings. What the fuck! All of a sudden, I felt myself being pushed against the wall as something crashed. My eyes closed as soon as I was pushed, thinking it was a walker.

I opened my eyes to see what the fuck happened, but instead of wreckage, I found Daryl's eyes looking into mine. I gulped as my heart raced. Up close, his eyes were a fucking beauty. Being so close to his face like this made me very very nervous. What made me even more nervous, however, was the fact that he was leaning closer. Oh my god, his eyes are closed. Is he… Is he going to KISS me?! I had no idea what to do, my heart was torn. As such as I was infatuated by the guy, I was still wearing Benny's ring. And if this thing is temporary, then basically, I'm cheating on my first love, and who was supposed to be my first _voluntary_ first time. Oh god, he was still leaning in…!

"You okay down there?!" Rick yelled from upstairs. I looked over Daryl's shoulder, moving my head slightly, and his lips landed on my earlobe. My eyes grew wider and I turned bright red.

Turned out the roof came crashing down over the stairs, destroying it completely. Great. Me and Daryl were stuck down here.

"Yeah!" Daryl yelled back, thankfully moving his head as not to deaf me. And I could've sworn I heard him mumble a curse as he helped me stand up.

"Stairs are completely destroyed." Rick pointed out. No shit, Sherlock! "I'm gonna go back to the truck for some rope. Will you two be okay?"

Nope. "Yeah, make it quick though." I told him, looking up at him. "I think it might rain soon." Rick nodded and left. I glanced over at Daryl, who was trying to figure out the combination. As if I never had it in the first place! What a douchebag! "47, 19, 33." I told him plainly. "And be careful for you open the vault door, cos I stuffed a whole lotta shit in there."

"Yeah." He replied, and stood right behind the door. As soon a he did the right combination and turned the large lever. When he opened the door, a wave of crap came out: clothes, bottles of water, cans of food… everything I could fit in there. "Holy shit."

"Told you I put a lot of stuff in there." I chuckled. I stepped inside and decided to take a look around. The memories… and the smell of old shit. My god. It reminded me of how my flat with Benny smelled like. Sigh… Benny. I thought about him every night despite whatever the fuck it is I feel towards Daryl.

My thoughts were interrupted by static noises coming from Daryl's walkie-talkie. "Daryl? Erin?"

Daryl took it out of his pocket and clicked a button. "Yeah?"

"There's a storm out here…" I stopped wiping off the dust as Daryl moved closer so I could hear Rick on the walkie-talkie. I could hear the rain (since I was in the basement I couldn't hear it otherwise), and the sound of the truck's engine. "… It's pretty bad, so we're gonna drive the truck back to the prison and come back when the storm clears out."

Oh no. No no no no no. Hell no! I am NOT spending the night with Daryl. No way in hell!

"Uh…" Daryl gave a look and, noticing that I was gazing at him (again), I continued wiping the furniture and sofas. "Yeah, okay."

"You got food?"

Before Daryl could reply, I said, "Yeah. Plenty of cans to last a month."

Thunder clapped outside which made me jump. It was so loud I thought the roof was about to crash again. "Mother of Prince!" I exclaimed, almost tripping over a small box.

"Everything okay?" Rick asked urgently. Daryl nodded and smirked.

"Yeah, it was just Erin trippin' over somethin'." He replied smugly.

"Fuck you." I murmured, rubbing my ankle.

"Well, sit tight." Glenn said. "The storm's pretty bad."

"Yeah okay, man." Daryl replied, and shut the walkie-talkie down, placing it back in his pocket. "Looks like we might be here a while… Might as well get comfortable." He groaned as a cracked his spine, and sat down on the sofa across the La-Zee Boy I was currently sitting on.

There were several other sofas and massage chairs and stuff like that inside the vault. I knew he saw them, I just fucking knew it. So why did he choose to sit across me, of all places?

This was gonna be a long night.

* * *

**Soooo I know I promised some lemons, but this chapter was getting too long so I decided to divide it into two, so expect a semi-lemon session in the next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Day 388: Evening

**Chapter 12**

**Day 388 - Evening**

I felt like the walls were closing in on me. I'd moved around the basement, which had minimal space to roam around considering the fucking roof on the ground, and the vault likewise. And where was Daryl? Right across from me, cleaning his stupid crossbow with his stupid eyebrows furrowed with stupid concentration.

I sighed for the millionth time and decided to look into some of the boxes lying in the far corner of the vault. I was making a lot of noise on purpose. To piss Daryl off… okay, don't fucking give me that knowing look… Fine, yes. I also wanted to get his attention. Does it make you smile like a little kid knowing the situation I'm in? I'm not gonna kid myself anymore… I like Daryl. More than that… I, as I used to say when I was still a hopeless romantic, 'like-like' Daryl. He saved my life, so he's a hero. He's also really smart, street smart. _And_ he doesn't look too shabby, even though his hair is getting a little out of control.

In one of the boxes, which I hadn't opened before, I found some very old vinyl records. I grinned, thinking I'd find something like Zeppelin or Deep Purple or something—yes, I'm a virgin nurse who loves rock music—but in vain. All I found was… romance. Love song compilations. Greatest love hits. Ugh, I wanted to puke. I wanted to play some music because it felt like ages sine I did, and all I have to settle with is… this?!

"Hey, Daryl." I exclaimed, not looking up. "You mind if I put some music on?"

"Music?" I looked over my shoulder and gave him a look which read 'You're kidding right?'

"Yes. Music." I dead-panned, and scanned my perimeter for the turntable. I smiled triumphantly when I found it under a stack of books and magazines. "But, uh, all the records are… love songs."

"So?" he replied with a shrug. He stopped cleaning the crossbow and placed it next to him.

"You know…" I murmured, now turning red. He grunted.

"Whatever." He replied, which I took for a yes. I shuffled through the long plays until one caught my eye. It was Elvin Bishop's _Fooled Around and Fell In Love_. It reminded me of so many bittersweet memories.

Something no one knew—not even Benny himself—was that I was born out of wedlock… _way_ out of wedlock. My parents were still in medical school when they had me, and decided to wait until they had a more stable home and job to get married… which was when I turned eight years old. I remember the flower girl dress I had to wear, which was baby pink. I fucking hated baby pink. That song was theirs: it was played when they first met, when they exchanged their first I love you, when I was conceived (I know right…), their first dance, and on each of their anniversaries.

I placed the vinyl onto the platter, cued the tonearm and lowered the stylus. After a few seconds, the song started to play. I stood up from the ground and turned round. Daryl's face tensed, as if he recognised the song.

"You know this song?" I asked him. He stood up and nodded.

"Uh, yeah…" he replied softly. "My…" He paused. "My mum used to play it all the time."

He never once mentioned his mother. Heck, he never really talked about his family or personal life at all, except for his god-for-nothing brother of his.

"Oh." Was all I could say. I had no idea what to reply, actually.

"What about you?" My head snapped up, realising he was standing right in front of me, looking down at me. "What's your story?"

"This is my parents' song." I simply said, looking down. He then took my hand and placed it on his shoulder, doing the same with the other. I wrinkled my nose. "… Okay…"

"Shut up." He replied firmly as he placed his hands on my hips.

What the fuck. Daryl and I are dancing. In the midst of an apocalypse. To my parents' song. His mother's song. Without even noticing until now, we were swaying slowly to the beat. My heart was beating so hard it felt like my ribcage was going to burst. I carefully moved closer, wrapping my arms round his neck. He was much taller than me so he ended up resting his head on mine. My head rested against his chest and boy, was his heart beating as fast as mine. I didn't know whether it was because we were standing so close to me or whatever it was that he was feeling.

The swaying and movement slowed down a little, and I frowned, thinking he wanted it to stop. _I_ didn't want it to stop. He removed his hands from my hips with my arms still wrapped round his neck, and kissed my forehead.

Yep, my forehead. If he really wanted to kiss me, he would've done better than that. I mean, _I_ wanted to kiss him, but I didn't want to do it first, in case he actually _didn't_ want to kiss me. So I made the first move. I was tired of waiting, so I just stood on the tips of my toes and kissed him. On the lips. It was just a split of a second so I didn't even give him a chance to react or even kiss me back. Hell, I didn't even close my eyes.

I just wanted to do it, so I did. His facial expression confused me. Did he want to kiss me? Did he _not_ want to kiss me? Then he looked down, and let out a sigh.

"I-I shouldn't have done that…" I stammered and quickly turned off the music. The silence that followed was deafening. I could feel him look at the back of my head. My face and neck were red with embarrassment. Fuck this, the one time I trust my instincts and this is what I fucking get.

"But you did." He said matter-of-factly, and then chuckled. "Didn't even let me react."

I stood back up and looked at him. "You… wanted to react?" He nodded and took a step closer. "And what would've been your reaction?"

He looked at me like I was a crazy person, which I was for kissing him. "Kiss you back, of course."

Then it was _my_ turn to look at him like he was crazy. "You wanted to kiss me back? Am I _not_ a kid anymore?" I teased him, smirking.

"I may have underestimated you."

"Is that your way of apologising to me?" He was now just inches away from me, and I was shitting myself… not literally, of course.

"Never said I regret what I told you." He replied and kissed me. This time, it wasn't a split of a second, or a peck. He had one hand on my waist, the other caressing my neck. I didn't know what to do with my lousy hands. I never knew what to do with them, even with Benny, so he'd hold them and run his thumbs over the top. So I let my hands to my side while I kissed him back.

Daryl pulled away and smiled. "You know you can do something with your hands, like…" He took my hands and put them on his shoulders. "…that."

"I never know what to do with my hands…" I murmured, and he kissed me once again, this time my hands on his shoulders.

* * *

Daryl was back to his former position on his couch, checking and cleaning his crossbow. I leaned back into the La-Zee Boy, trying to keep my eyes open. He glanced at me. "You okay?"

I nodded lazily. "Just sleepy."

"Then sleep. I'll wake ya up if something happens."

"I can't. You know what happened the last time I slept." I said, rubbing my eyes. "I slept for two straight days."

"You were tired. You could've slept for a whole fucking week, Erin. If you're tired, sleep."

"I spent a whole year on just three hours of sleep a week. I can do this." I snapped, but my eyes were already closed. Fuck. Once again, I was vulnerable. I'm a fucking victim. Thinking about this made me think of the night I was raped. I felt as vulnerable now as I did back then, despite the different circumstance.

"Come here." I opened my eyes. Daryl put his crossbow on a surface next to the couch he was sitting on. "Erin…" He patted the empty space next to him and I got up and walked over to him and sat down. But instead of sitting on the couch, I sat on him. Was I that goddamn tired?!

"Sorry." I whispered.

"It's okay, Erin. You're just tired."

I shook my head. "Daryl…" The only people that knew about the rape were my parents and Benny. I didn't bother telling my nursing friends since we weren't very close. And now that both my parents and Benny are God knows where, the thing was eating me inside, so I had to tell him. If not him, then anyone… but _he_ was the one here, so I had to let it out. Knowing Daryl kept a lot of things to himself would help with keeping this from the others, but at the same time, I wanted him to open up to me just like I was about to do. "There's something you should know about me… Why I act the way I do and stuff."

And I told him the whole story. From beginning to end. The rape, Benny saving me, why I dropped out of nursing school to become an officer… Every single little fucking detail. Once I finished telling him the story, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. _This_ felt so goddamn good.

"Wow." Daryl said and ran a hand over his mouth. "I… never could've…"

"I just had to tell someone. It was killing me inside." I admitted.

"Now that we're having this heart-to-heart…" Daryl stood up and took off his leather jacket and lifted his shirt. I blinked. Damn he had a great body. I averted my eyes and then looked back up at him. He took a deep breath and slowly turned round. On the right he had two tattoos almost on top of each other, of what looked like demonic creatures or gargoyles or something… but that wasn't what made me gasp.

It was the whip marks and bruises he had all over his back.

"Oh my God." What else was I supposed to say? I didn't know what my response should've been.

He pulled his t-shirt down and put his jacket back on. "When Merle ran away… I took the beatings." He explained while sitting back down.

"Oh my God." I was like a broken record, repeating the same shitty response over again.

After several seconds of silence, Daryl glanced at me and laughed. "We are so fucking damaged."

I hadn't heard him laugh so often, and it was so genuine, I laughed along. And I meant it too, because we were damaged. I laughed hysterically as his laughing also increased.

"So will you sleep now?" he asked me once the laughter died down. I looked up at him and kissed his cheek. "What was that for?" he smiled.

I shrugged and laid down, my feet on his lap. "You know…" I blushed. He smirked, which made me blush even brighter. "Whatever."

"Sure." He grunted, and I closed my eyes.

* * *

**It's late, I know. I've had a lot of school and personal stuff to deal with so I decided to take my time with this chapter.**

**Despite the reviews coming to a halt, I want to thank all that have been reading the story and favouriting (not even a real word!)/following. Each one of you gives me the courage and motivation to actually continue this story. So thank you, thank you, thank you!**

**As per usual, not happy with the ending, but it'll do, unless I re-upload the chapter with a better ending.**


	13. Chapter 13 - Day 390: Afternoon

**Chapter 13**

**Day 390 – Afternoon**

My eyes fluttered open. I groaned when I realised I was back in the prison. That meant I'd been asleep since the vault. Great. The more time I spend with these people the weaker I seem to get. Not that I mind the sleeping in—reminds me of the older days—but slacking makes me seem weak. Which I'm not.

I got up, put on my boots and went down into the main area.

"Ah, look who decided to join in." Andrea grinned.

"How long was I out this time?" I asked her, rubbing my eyes. I groaned when the sun hit me directly in the eyes, causing me to squint. I looked fucking terrible squinting.

"About two days, I think." Andrea replied. She stopped what she was doing and looked at me with confusion. "How do you do it? I'd be lucky if I get three straight hours."

I shrugged. "I mean, I've travelled alone, and I didn't sleep much to protect myself. So now that I've people around me all the time, I can sleep." I paused and smirked. "Daryl's order?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Actually Rick's. Said he owed you for all the supplies." She looked ahead and laughed at something. I glanced over and saw Carl flying a kite, Lori fanning herself while sitting down with Beth and Hershel. Everyone, I realised, was wearing clothes from the vault. And they were using things from down there too. I doubt they got everything from there since the ceiling broke down onto the stairs, but most of the items were here. That made me feel so much better about myself.

"Where's Rick now?" I asked Andrea.

"With Daryl, two towns over. Lori needed some medicine because of the baby, and Beth might be coming down to a cold, so we needed some medicine urgently. But they're on their way."

I nodded and went into the garage, looking around. I'd saved a few tools inside the vault just in case I found a car and could make it work again. I remember going out with a mechanic's son back in high school, and he was so fond of me he taught me a few tricks when it came to cars. Having a great memory in basic instructions, I actually remembered them.

The tools were sitting next to each other on a working top. They looked brand new, like they'd been bought just a second ago. I walked over to the working top and ran my fingers over the tools. They'd been pretty well preserved, considering the world has been run over by the walking dead for almost a year. Soon enough, there won't be anything new. Nothing will surprise me anymore.

That thought scared me.

"Penny for your thought?" I turned round to find Hershel standing behind me, smiling softly. I smiled back, putting the screwdriver I was holding back in its place. "It's nice looking at something brand new, huh."

I nodded, still looking down at it as I ran my finger over it. "I was just thinking… soon enough nothing will be new. This whole… zombie apocalypse shit will be the new normal for… for God knows how long."

"It's like… say, when you break your foot. Or good arm. You're new to it being in a cast, and soon enough, you'll get used to that. Then when the cast is off, it's back to feeling new to it, until you get back on track." Hershel explained, patting my shoulder. "We're in the getting used to the cast part of things."

"Uh, I think this is nothing like breaking an arm. I'd take that over this zombie crap anytime of the day." I replied. Hershel chuckled.

"Don't we all?" he said, before patting my shoulder again and walking away. He popped his head in a mere second later. "The others are here."

"I'll be right there." I told him, my back facing him. The thought of the others coming back made the inexistent butterflies in my stomach be. Was this relief, that they're all alive and well, or was all this excitement because I was seeing Daryl again for the first time in over two days?

Oh, Daryl. We may have had a moment back in the vault, but that was never going to happen again. I'm supposed to say—or even think—about this, but I've been having these… dreams… about Daryl. Very vivid ones. They're… wild, passionate, and intimate. They've become more frequent, meaning they didn't just appear while I was asleep.

I shook my head and groaned. Thinking of the man made my head spin, and probably not in a good way. I probably won't look at him the same way again, especially after the kiss.

The kiss. The slightest thought of it made me blush, and sent actual shivers down my spine.

"Hey." I yelped as I jumped around, almost hitting my hip against the working top. Upon seeing Daryl, I jumped back and hit my lower back against the table. It hurt like a bitch, but I was good with controlling pain. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

"You just startled me…" I replied, feeling ridiculously embarrassed. "Did you find the medicine?" I asked, changing subject. He nodded. "Good."

I knew what was going on here. The awkward silence spoke for itself. That kiss fucked up the little chemistry we had.

"It's our turn for the evening." Daryl spoke up. He was referring to night watch, probably my favourite type of guarding. Barely anything happened during the night. It was probably the only time where you can hear close to nothing.

"Yeah." How I managed to speak? Still a mystery. "Guns are all cleaned and loaded. Andrea did most of them by herself."

"Did you sleep well?" he asked me. I nodded. "Good." He looked over his shoulder, and then back at me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

No, Daryl. You kissed me the other day and now my stomach is in knots and I get butterflies everything I look at or even dare think of you. "Yeah…" I stretched the word, something I usually do when I'm lying. Good thing he doesn't know it. "… Are you?"

He grunted. "Considering." I took that as a yes. "We actually think there's another group lurking in the forest."

I perked up. More people? That can go either way. "I've in the forest for almost a year. They must have come from the west."

"How can you tell?"

"I scanned all the east area." I pointed out. "Spent the whole time I was alone looking for people around that area. I never got a chance to go west… it's when I met you guys here."

Rick walked up to us, interrupting the conversation. "Hey, Erin. You okay?" I nodded. "Are you up for a supply run down south? Me and the guys need to rest up before night watch. Andrea can join you."

I shrugged. I'd never been to the south perimeter. "Sure, okay." Rick smiled gratefully and went inside the cell block.

"I'll come with you." Daryl told me before I could walk out of there. I turned round and glared at him.

"Dude, it's not like I'm going out there alone. Andrea's good with a gun. And so am I. We'll be fine."

"I'll. Come. With. You." He repeated, pausing between each word. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not a child, Dixon." I snapped. "You're not tagging along. And if you do, I'll tie you to a tree and leave you there." Daryl chortled. My look became more sinister as I smirked. "Don't think I've never done it before." That oughtta wipe his smirk off.

"It's a risk I'm willin' to take." He replied coolly.

"Dude what _is_ your problem?" I exclaimed, charging towards him. Before I had a chance to take a swing at the ass, I felt a pair of strong arms holding me back. I looked down and realised it was Rick. "Let me go!"

"My duty is to keep everyone safe." Daryl snapped, coming close to my face. He smelled faintly of cigarettes and alcohol. Where the fuck did he get alcohol from? "And if you're not okay with it, I'm all for letting you die out there." He said, and stormed off.

"What was that about?" Lori asked. Rick loosened his grip and I turned round to see everyone gathered around me.

"Rick, can someone else go with Andrea? I'm really not in the mood for anything right now."

Rick nodded, and I went the opposite way, towards Cell Block D, my favourite spot. I honestly had no idea why I was getting so worked up about that dickhead. I wanted him to back the fuck away. He's told me time and time again that I've improved in my instincts, and weapon-keeping and what not. So why is he always all up in my case when it's my turn to exit the gates?

Is he doing this because in reality, I've _not_ improved in my hunting skills in a year? … Or is it because of something else?

* * *

**I just really wanted to end this chapter. It's been a while but here it is!  
****Hopefully I didn't lose the following I had for this story. More to come, I promise!  
Let me what you want to see more/less of, and check my other stories (if you're into Supernatural!).**


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